Dancers and Dreamers
by SloaneKato
Summary: I don't know who I am. One day, I was just there. And the next, I was in a loving home. Then I met him, and I started to notice things. I knew things I shouldn't, I did things I couldn't, and suddenly, it all started to make sense. AU. Rated for future.
1. Dancers

When he was little, he lived in a broken down castle, in the far east tower. His room was makeshift at best, with patchy purple carpeting and walls stapled together and patched by cardboard sheets. He slept on a mattress on the floor, as he'd requested, so as not to house unwanted visitors. He spent a lot of time running in that room, from one side to another-because he simply couldn't go out alone, too many people were there.  
>That did not, however, stop him from occasionally reaching up and pulling the small, hidden, padded door open. He would wander down flights of stairs, threw halls and dungeons, and finally, he'd reach the ball room. It had always been his favorite-in the mid-afternoon, a small group of graceful ballerinas in black, lacy, sequined leotards and black shoes that laced up their perfect, porcelain legs practiced on mats on the floors.<br>He liked to watch them dance, the way their bodies stretched and bended so gracefully in time with the music. Watching them made him feel truly...real.  
>"Little boy, does your mommy know you're here?" One of the dancers once asked, a pretty girl with rich, chocolaty brown hair put in a neat bun. She wore glittery black around her eyes, in wispy butterfly-like designs. She had always been his favorite dancer, the one with the major role.<br>He didn't know how to answer that question. Who was this 'mommy' she spoke of? He simply stared at her, deep blue eyes wide, mouth slightly parted.  
>The woman smiled softly. "That's okay, if she doesn't. Just make sure not to worry her, okay?" The woman asked, patting him gently on the head. "What is your name, little one?"<br>He bit his lip in concentration. Name? Name... he didn't think he had one of those, either.  
>"You don't know your name?"<br>He shook his head.  
>"Hmm, well, that's alright then... how old are you? Do you know?"<br>He pondered the question for a while before shaking his head.  
>"Are you...lost?"<br>He smiled, shaking his head. "I live here," he said. "In the tower."  
>The woman's gaze seemed to soften. "You're...one of the orphans, then?"<br>He tilted his head. Orphans? Wasn't that... a dolphin? No...wait. That was Orca. He had had a book about them, once. Before.  
>"Would you like to dance with us, little one?"<br>He nodded, and let the woman take his hand in her slightly bigger one as she led him over to the group. A few of the dancers crooned out in adoration for the small child, petting him on the head and speaking of how cute he was, and asking if he was going to dance with them, to which he nodded lightly. A woman with blond hair taught him some of the steps, and praised him greatly, saying he was a natural.


	2. Parents

He was back in his room again, staring idly at the cardboard stapled to the wall when they came. A tall, kind-yet-not looking woman with smooth black hair opened his door, two women behind her. One had wavy, chocolaty brown hair that looked silky and soft-he wanted to run his fingers through it. The other one was a golden blond, with curly ringlets and bright blue eyes. He recognized them instantly as the dancers, despite them wearing simple shirts and pants, without the beautiful makeup, and normal shoes. He felt a small smile grace his lips as he stood up.  
>The black haired woman smiled at him. "These are going to be your new parents, honey. They've decided to adopt you," she said, voice sounding a bit too sweet.<br>He tilted his head. "What...are parents?"  
>The black haired woman frowned a bit. "Poor boy... we don't think he remembers them. A man found him in the gutter, half dead one night and brought him to us- we don't have a name, nor an age, but we speculate that he is about ten."<br>"You...never named him?" The woman with brown hair asked, her soft brown eyes worried.  
>The black haired woman shook her head. "He's only been here for a week or so," she said, and paused. "This won't change your mind, will it?"<br>The two women looked at each other and shook their heads. "Can we... give him a name, then?"  
>"By all means."<br>The blond smiled, walking up to him and kneeling down, hands on her knees. "My name is Serene, little one. Do you remember your name?"  
>He still didn't think he had one, so he shook his head. "Little one?" He asked, hesitantly.<br>The women smiled softly. "No, no, that's not a name. Here, I will give you one." The woman said, and seemed to study him for a moment. "Your calm, cool demeanor and curiosity tells me that you're highly intelligent, albeit quiet... your name shall be Zexion. Zexion Ienzo Azure."  
>He blinked. "Zexion," he said. "My name is Zexion, and you are the woman who taught me to dance."<br>A slow, yet wide grin spread across her face. "Yes, I am," she said, and stood up. She gestured to the brown haired woman. "And this is my partner, Libi." The brown haired woman smiled down at him, and patted him on the head gently. "How would you like to come live with us?"  
>"Do you...have books where you live?" He asked, eyes alight.<br>The blond smirked. "More than you could even wish for, Zexion."  
>O-okay!" He said, blue eye wide. The brunette smiled at the blond, and they both took one of his hands.<p> 


	3. Blind

"Zexion! Dinner!"  
>Zexion blinked. Dinner... That was food. He set his book down, and scooted off the window seat, running to where he'd heard Libi call. She smiled at him, and handed him a plate of something that smelled delicious to him. He sat down at the table and waited for her to do the same. "What were you reading about today, Zexion?"<br>He smiled. "Dolphins," he said. He blinked. "Where is Serene?"  
>Libi frowned. "Serene works during the night on Fridays and Saturdays, so she won't be eating with us tonight."<br>He nodded, and picked up his fork, shoveling some of the orange colored food into his mouth. He closed his eyes and smiled. It _was_ as delicious as it had smelled.  
>Libi watched him, smiling gently. "Do you like it? It's called Mac'n'cheese."<br>Zexion repeated it and nodded. "It's delicious," he said, before shoveling more of it into his mouth.  
>"Hey, Zexion, how can you stand having your hair over your eye all the time? Doesn't that mess with your vision?" Libi asked suddenly, tilting her head. Zexion had been living with them for several years now, yet she'd never once seen his right eye.<br>He blinked. "I don't recall ever needing it, it has always been covered."  
>"Oh. Is there anything wrong with it?"<br>He mulled over the question. "No, I don't think so. I just don't use it."  
>Libi 'hm'-ed, and ate some of her own Mac'n'cheese. "I want you to start using it, I think you might find it much easier to function."<br>Zexion blinked, and pulled his hair out of his other eye, tucking it behind his ear. "There is no improvement," he said, and continued to eat.  
>"Close your left eye and tell me what you see," Libi said, eyes narrowed.<br>So he did. "I...see nothing. It is dark."  
>"Okay, you can open your other eye... it looks like you're blind in one eye. I won't bother you about it anymore."<br>"Oh. I'm sorry."  
>"Huh? It's not your fault," she said, shaking her head. "I was just curious, is all."<br>Zexion nodded.  
>"So, today, I got you enrolled in school. They'll have you take a proficiency test to place you, since you never attended school before."<br>"School?" Serene had been homeschooling him for the entire time he'd been there.  
>"A place where you, amongst other kids your age, will learn more than me or Serene could teach you."<br>"I see," he said. "I do not know my age."  
>Libi studied him. "Well, we originally thought you to be ten, and judging by your voice having dropped, we're guessing you to be fourteen or fifteen."<br>"Oh, I see."  
>"We tried to find any missing child reports, but there weren't any. We still don't know much about you," she said, sighing.<br>"I'm sorry," he said, quietly.  
>"Don't worry about it...just...if you remember anything, please tell us."<br>Zexion nodded.

Zexion found the test they gave him to be exceedingly easy. They informed him that he would be placed in the highest grade, twelfth, and that school started on the following Monday.

Serene took him shopping later that day, and bought him enough clothing to last him a week before needing to do laundry, along with some professional wear. They also bought things she insisted he would need for school-paper, folders, pencils, pens, and a calculator. When they got back, Libi had ordered something called Pizza, which Zexion soon found a deep love for. It was the saltiness combined with the sweetness of the tomato sauce and crust, he speculated, that caused him to love it so much.  
>Serene told him that he'd soon be sick of pizza after eating it at school for two weeks, but he didn't believe her.<br>Zexion wasn't particularly picky about what he ate-he did not, however, like the greasy, fried, and overly salted potatoes whether they were in the form of French Fries (which, he learned, were not actually French) or chips. He tolerated mashed potatoes, though he didn't put anything on them-causing Libi to give him funny looks and Serene to have a weird fascination with his eating habits. He concluded that his adoptive mothers were strange, curious beings, and that he should simply ignore their oddities.  
>He also did not seem to like many sweet foods, though he had a strange obsession with sour gummy worms that even he had no explanation for.<br>Needless to say, Zexion liked almost anything they fed him, gave him, or taught him.


	4. School

When Monday rolled around, Serene woke Zexion up at six, and told him to take a shower and get dressed while she made breakfast.  
>When he came out, dressed in a black V-necked t-shirt that fit him loosely and tight black jeans, he was not prepared for the onslaught of "aww"s that erupted from Libi and Serene as soon as he stepped into the kitchen. He doubled back, panic rising in him.<br>"You look so adorable, like a wet kitten, Zexion," Libi finally explained, brown eyes lit up.  
>"Er, thank you?" He had replied, unsure of whether he should accept the complement or take an insult. He took the plate Serene held out to him with a small smile, and sat down across from Libi, shoveling the scrambled egg-and-ham into his mouth. He felt...antsy.<br>Nervous.  
>"Are you ready for your first day of school, Zexion?"<br>He shook his head. "But don't worry, I will endure," he said, with a slight smile itching to form. He didn't let it. He'd been smiling too much lately.

He was dropped off at the large, gray building at seven. He spent the extra twenty five minutes locating his locker, tossing his backpack in, and going to his first class, -which he noted with a sigh- was locked. He sat outside the door and read his book, waiting for the teacher to arrive.  
>The bell rang, and a group of teenagers had crowded around in front of the door, talking idly amongst each other. Zexion went back to his book.<br>"Hey, aren't you a bit...young to be in this class?" A smooth baritone asked.  
>Zexion looked up in annoyance. "They have placed me in the twelfth grade. It was not my decision."<br>"Whoa, whoa, didn't mean to offend, geez. Say, what's your name? My name's Axel. A-X-E-L. Got it memorized?" A boy with long, red spiked hair and bright green eyes said, tapping his temples.  
>"Yes, Axel," he said, blankly. "My name is Zexion."<br>"You sure you're not like...a freshman? I've never seen you here before."  
>"I was placed in the senior year, this is my first time attending school."<br>"Whoa, you were home schooled, eh?"  
>Zexion stared at the red head. "I do not remember."<br>Axel blinked, and rubbed at his neck. "Well, uh... I'll show you around the place. What lunch do you have?"  
>"A."<br>"Oh cool, same lunch. Awesome. Um, you can sit with me and the group. That is...if you don't mind?"  
>Zexion glanced back up from his book. "I would not mind," he said. "As long as I am allowed to read."<br>"Uh, sure, if you wanna," he said, raising an eyebrow. "Though I'm not sure why you'd want to."  
>"I prefer reading to idle chatter."<br>"Oh."  
>Zexion continued reading, fully aware that the redhead was watching him. After ten minutes, Zexion growled out a "What?"<br>Green eyes widened. "I was just, uh, you're kinda cute, is all."  
>Zexion narrowed his eyes and went back to reading.<br>"Uh, I don't mean that in a weird way or anything, it was just an observation..."  
>Zexion waved his hand, dismissing it before standing up. As soon as he did, a middle-aged woman walked up and unlocked the door, herding them all in.<br>She allowed them to sit wherever, then left. He sat in the middle, and considered moving when Axel sat next to him, but decided against it so as not to draw attention to himself.  
>A blond boy with a mullet-like hairstyle walked in, froze, looked around and then scampered to the last empty seat-which happened to be on Zexion's other side.<br>The blond boy turned to him, and grinned. "You're pretty!" He said, blue-green eyes seemingly dancing.  
>"Dude, Demyx, that's a guy. Don't call Zex pretty."<br>Demyx gaped, looking between Axel and Zexion. Zexion flinched when suddenly the blond was sitting on his desk, staring intently at him. He continued, however, to read.  
>"Say, how would you like a lolipop?" The blond suddenly asked.<br>Zexion stared at him in disbelief. "Get away from me," he scoffed.  
>"Hey! No need to be <em>rude.<em> I was just asking if you wanted one, 'cause I have a few..." The blond pulled out a few Dum-Dums from his pocket, and handed the bluenette one. "Blue raspberry. Just like your hair."  
>"No thank you," Zexion said, ignoring the boy.<br>And then suddenly the blond was attacking him, and shoved something into his mouth. Zexion's eyes widened at the sweetness of whatever the blond had shove in his mouth. "There, see? That's not so bad, is it?"  
>Zexion blinked. The blond was squatting on his desk, smirking. He pulled the blue thing out of his mouth. "I suppose it isn't so bad."<br>"I'm Demyx," he said, sticking out a hand.  
>"Zexion."<br>"You're supposed to shake my hand," Demyx said, in a whisper.  
>Zexion winced and shook the boy's hand lightly, only to have the blond jump down and straddle him in order to hug him. Zexion wasn't sure what to do-he'd never been hugged before.<br>So, naturally, he decided it was an attack and shoved the blond off of him, slapping him across the face before returning to his beloved book. The blond whimpered, clutching his face and flew into Axel's arms for comfort.  
>"There, there, Demyx," he cooed into the blond's ear. "I'm sure he didn't mean it, I mean, look at him... he's just scared," Axel grinned. "You mustn't be so forward, young grasshopper."<br>Demyx's eyes shone with awe. "You're so cool, Axel!" He said, hugging onto the red-head and squealing.  
>A blond girl with antennae-like hair whipped around and slapped Demyx and Axel upside the head. Zexion smirked. He had a feeling that he would enjoy her presence, as Demyx cowered in fear and Axel simply looked away. She smirked at Zexion and turned to the man with pink hair in front of him. "Marluxia, what did you do to poor Vexen?"<br>The man seemed to smirk at this. "What ever do you mean, dear Larxene?"  
>Larxene smiled, though the act looked more sinister than anything.<br>Just then, a man with long, long blond hair walked into the classroom, looking rather annoyed. He stared at the class with dark green eyes. His face was sunken in, giving him a botox-ed look. "My name is Professor Even. You shall call me this, or you will be thrown out. That being said, welcome to Genetics."  
>This was an optional class, Zexion learned, and he deducted that it would be a simple one, as well. He vaguely remembered most of the names of the units on the syllabus he'd been given, though he couldn't recall where he had learned about them. Class was soon over, and Professor Even, or Vexen, as Marluxia and Larxene called him, handed out a small evaluation test to be turned in the next day.<br>"Hey buddy, what's your next class?" Axel said, wrapping his arm around Zexion's shoulders, making him stumble slightly.  
>"Intro to Poetry."<br>"Aw man, that sounds boring."  
>"I enjoy literature in all forms."<br>Axel raised an eyebrow. "I would never have guessed," he said, gesturing to Zexion's book; a thick paperback that he was reading while he walked through the crowded halls. The sensation of weaving through the crowded halls gave him a sense of nostalgia, though he couldn't place that, either.  
>"This is my classroom," he said, shrugging Axel off and walking into the classroom. This class had a seating chart, as it was displayed on the overhead. Zexion quickly found his seat, which was between a brunette and a blond who he deduced must have been Sora and Roxas Strife respectively.<br>The brunette was practically bouncing in his seat, and almost immediately introduced himself to Zexion. "Hi I'm Sora, and I like pie!" He said, grinning. "What's your name?"  
>"Zexion."<br>"Hi, Zexion! It's nice to meet you! The blond kid next to you is my twin brother, Roxas! Don't worry about him, though, he's just shy."  
>"I see," he said, nodding. He looked back at his book. The bell rang, and he looked up as the teacher stood up and addressed the class enthusiastically. He was given yet another syllabus, which the teacher read aloud to the class, and then was asked to write about himself in a poem using any style he wanted.<br>_I don't remember much about  
>Where I came from<br>Or who I am  
>I simply woke up<br>Confused  
>I went to see the dancers<br>And they took me as their own  
>Even though my history<br>Had yet to be shown  
>They called me Zexion.<br>_He turned the paper with his 'poem' into the tray at the end of the hour as instructed, and left to his next class, Photoshop. He was again, given a choice on where he sat, and so he sat in the back at a computer.  
>Soon after, he heard his name called and looked up to see none other than Demyx walking into the room. The blond slumped down into the seat next to him. "Hey man, I'm sorry if I freaked you out or something back there," he said, grinning apologetically. "I guess I'm just used to people being down with it, you know?"<br>Zexion shook his head. "No, I do not know."  
>Demyx sighed. "I'm annoying you, aren't I?"<br>"Yes."  
>The blond winced and went to turn on his computer, but it didn't turn on. Zexion rolled his eyes and turned on Demyx's monitor.<br>And then realized he had never used a computer before, and stopped, biting his lip.  
>"What's wrong, Zexy?"<br>"What did you call me?"  
>"Zexy! It's a nickname. Do you like it?"<br>"No. Don't call me that."  
>Demyx's face fell. "Sorry..."<br>"It is alright."

"You talk funny, Zexion."

"Do I?"

"Yeah...all, proper and stuff. C'mon, loosen up! It's your senior year, buddy. You gotta have _fun._"

"I...don't know what you mean."

The look on Demyx's face could only be described as one of horror. "You...you don't know what _fun_ is? No wonder you're so uptight! You poor thing," he said, and took the boy's head into his arms, burying it into his chest.

At first, Zexion was scared, thinking the blond was trying to tear his head from his body, but then he realized that it was a sign of affection-an innocent embrace, like the ones Libi shared with some of her fellow dancers. He relaxed and allowed his arms to wrap around the blond's waist, inhaling deeply.

Zexion decided then that he liked hugs. He wasn't sure if it was just because Demyx smelled rather delightful- like chlorine and mint, he presumed-or if it was the warmth of the embrace.

Then Demyx let him go, so Zexion pulled away, looking at the computer screen in order to hide the redness of his cheeks. "So..." Demyx started, trailing off.

"Yes?"

"Uh, where are you from?"

Zexion squinted, unsure of how to answer the question. "Two years ago, a man found me lying in a gutter, half dead. I do not remember anything before that, nor do I remember the event. I lived in an orphanage for a week before being adopted."

Demyx let out a weird noise. "So you just got a name and nothing else to remember?"

"My adoptive mothers gave me this name."

"Oh," he said, quietly. "Wait, what? Mothers? As in...lesbians?"

Zexion raised an eyebrow. "Do you have a problem with that, Demyx?"

"Uh, no...it's just...unusual," Demyx said, wide eyed. "Listen, I don't have anything against lesbians, I mean...it'd be really weird if I did, considering I'm gay myself, but, uh, no, it's totally cool that you have two moms, I'm happy for you and uh-"

"You can shut up now, genius," Zexion said, smirking.

"That was...oh my god, you actually sounded normal! My little Zexy's growing up!" Demyx shouted, pulling the slate-haired boy out of his chair and spinning him around.

"Boy, shit yo ass down," someone said from the front of the room. Demyx put Zexion back into his chair and sat down muttering a sor_ry_ under his breath.

The teacher took roll and went over a syllabus, and at this point Zexion was sick of them, and just ignored it.

_Hey, Zexion, what're you doing after school?_ Demyx wrote on his syllabus, putting it between them and discreetly nudging the other boy.

_Walking home, why?_ Zexion wrote back.

_I was wondering if you'd want to go do something._

_ I would have to check in with Libi._

_ Libi?_

_ My mom._

_ Oh. Well, I can give you a ride home. If you, uh, want me to, anyways._

_ I'm not getting in a car with an imbecile like you._

_ Not a car! A bicycle... you know what that is, right?_

_ I'm not stupid._

_ Er, sorry... but seriously, how about it? We could get ice cream or go to an arcade, or something..._

_ Sure._

_ Really? _

_ Yes. _

Demyx shouted out a triumphant 'yes!', gaining a few strange looks from the kids around him.

"Mr... Emyd, is there something you'd like to share with us?"

Zexion smirked. _Water turtle? How befitting._

Demyx stared blankly and shook his head. "No sir, I was just excited for this trimester."

The teacher shook his head, but smiled all the same, obviously seeing through the blond's lie.

._. ._. ._.

A/N: I hope you guys like this story so far. I'm sorry the chapters have been so short, but the original stands at...21 pages. So I'm trying to divide it up and make it more tolerable.

Thanks for reading! :3


	5. Age

Zexion had been led to lunch by Demyx, who had promptly grabbed Zexion's hand and led him there. He wasn't sure why, but his stomach started to churn on contact. He passed it off as nothing, that he was simply not used to the feeling.

"Okay. So, that's Larxene and Marluxia, they're in our first hour," Demyx said, pointing at the two. Larxene was sitting on the window ledge with Marluxia's head in her lap as she ran her fingers through his pink locks. "The red-head is Axel, as you know, and next to him with the X on his face is Siax. He's got a thing for Mansex, the history teacher." Siax shot Demyx a glare, causing the blond to cower in fear. He laughed nervously, and then pointed to the other side of the table. "Sora, Roxas, Xion, Kairi, Namine, and Riku all grew up together," he said, pointing to each one respectively. "Roxas is Axel's pet, and Sora and Riku are madly in love with each other. Xion likes Larxene, but Larxene is a bitch, so I dunno what she sees in her. Namine and Kairi are sisters, and Namine is currently Marluxia's girl, so don't mess with her, okay?"

Zexion nodded. He wasn't really interested in messing with anyone.

Demyx walked up to the table, dragging Zexion with him. "Hey, everyone! This is Zexy, he's my newest best friend!"

"Ew, Demyx, you brought a freshman here?" Xion asked, wrinkling her nose.

"Shut up, S'more. Zexion's a senior," Larxene said, chucking a fry at the black haired girl, who caught it with her mouth. "It's nice to meet you, Zexion, even if you did come with that... idiot."

Yes, Zexion definitely would enjoy Larxene's presence. She was sinister and gave off a dangerous air, but she was sincere and though most would just find her to be cruel, he thought her to be quite humorous. He smirked. "Unfortunately, said idiot seems to have a fondness for my hand," he said. "Do you think he intends on stealing it?"

Larxene snorted. "Demyx, let the poor kid alone. You've probably traumatized him."

Demyx whined and pouted. "That's not true! Right, Zexy?" Demyx said, pulling Zexion into his chest. "See? Zexion loves his Dem-dem."

"Can't... breath..."

"Huh? What'd you say, Zexy?"

"Need...air..."

"Oh! Sorry buddy!"

Zexion gasped for air, gripping his throat.

"God, kill the new kid why don't you?" Xion said, grinning. "You're such a mean person, Dem."

"That's enough outta you, young lady!" Demyx said, pointing at the girl.

"Back off, Demyx. That's mine," Larxene said, chucking a fry at Demyx's head. Zexion snatched it from the air and shoved it in Demyx's face, concerned that it would have gotten stuck in the boy's mess of hair.

Larxene snorted. "Okay, lovebirds, go get your food."

Demyx glared at her, but dragged Zexion off to a line anyways. "Larxene is such a _bitch,_" he said, once they'd gotten in the line.

"Really? I thought her to be rather amusing."

"Oh no, don't tell me you like her," Demyx said, a look of horror spreading across his face.

"She seems to be quite the comedian, Demyx. Her harness over sarcasm astounds me."

"You're so smart, Zexy," Demyx said, jaw dropping in awe.

"Or maybe you're just a moron, Demyx."

Demyx pouted, but seemed to accept that. "Hey, Zexy, do you like to swim?"

Zexion blinked. "I don't know that I've ever been," he said, shrugging. "Why do you ask?"

"'Cause I wanna go swimming. It's nice out, perfect weather to go to the lake."

"I suppose if you wanted, we could go there to hang out," he said, shrugging. "I don't know that I know how to swim, though."

Demyx grinned. "Don't worry, Zexy! I can teach you, if you don't know."

Zexion smiled lightly. "Sounds grand," he said, his stomach twisting slightly at the way Demyx's teal eyes seemed to dance.

._. ._. ._.

Zexion rode home on the handlebars of Demyx's bike, acting as his eyes for things directly in front of them, since Demyx couldn't see. He'd thought it'd be dangerous, that they'd crash into something, but Demyx proved to be rather good at maneuvering the bicycle despite having the small boy on his handlebars.

Zexion directed them to his home, and Demyx set his bike down on the lawn and flounced up to Zexion as he unlocked the door.

"Mom? I'm home," he called. Libi popped out from the kitchen.

"Welcome home, honey. Who's your friend?"

"I'm Demyx!" The blond said, grinning brightly. Zexion noted that Libi was significantly taller than his classmate, despite the boy being nearly six foot. His mothers were extremely tall, as were all of her dance troop. "It's really nice to meet you, Mrs. Azure."

She smiled. "Please, call me Libi. It's nice to meet you too, Demyx."

"Mom, can I go to the lake with Demyx?"

"Zexion...do you even know how to swim?"

"I don't know, but Demyx said he'd teach me if I didn't."

"I'm a life-guard there in the summer, so he's safe with me, Libi."

"Oh... well, alright then. I guess that's okay with me," she said, nodding. "Go ahead and take a couple towels, Zexion."

"Thanks, mom," he said, grinning. He had always called Libi mom, and Serene was usually mother or Serene. He didn't know why, but it had simply happened that way. He led Demyx down the hall, and grabbed two towels. "Do you want to borrow a pair of swim trunks? I think we'd wear about the same size," he said, taking note that Demyx, though significantly taller than him, had around the same sized hips- it'd been pointed out to Zexion that he had rather large hips.

"Uh, that's alright. I have a pair in my backpack," he said, grinning slightly with what Zexion assumed to be embarrassment. "I go swimming a lot...so I kinda always have a pair."

"Sounds reasonable," the slate-haired boy said, nodding. He walked into his room and told Demyx to stay there, before closing his door and changing into his black and grey swim trunks that Serene had bought him a few years ago, just because. She often would buy things, just because, much to Zexion's chagrin. He always felt weird accepting gifts.

He stepped back out, and motioned that he was ready when Demyx was. Demyx grinned and they left on the blond's bike, arriving at the lake fifteen minutes later. Demyx took off his shirt and pants, revealing blue swim trunks and led Zexion to the water.

Zexion touched the water with his foot, testing it, and found that, albeit a bit cold, the water was tolerable. He followed Demyx into the water, were Demyx was standing waist-deep. The water came up to Zexion's chest, encircling him with the cold. Zexion felt a sense of nostalgia, like he'd done this before.

"So... you think you can swim?"

Zexion thought for a second. "One way to find out," he said, and dove under the water, pushing his arms around him in a graceful move, propelling himself forward with the aid of his legs, which moved only gently. He emerged from the water, taking a deep breath and swung one arm out and then clawed the water, giving a kick.

He was swimming.

Zexion stopped where he was, moving his arms to keep himself afloat. "Hey, Demyx! I think I can swim," he said, smirking. He pushed his sopping-wet bangs up and slicked them back with one hand and grinned.

Demyx stared at him, seeming to grow pale. "Hey, Zex, what happened to your eye?"

Zexion blinked, tilting his head. "What do you mean, Demyx?"

Demyx swam up to the other boy, the water only to his shoulders. He grabbed Zexion's face, studying him with the rare serious expression of concern. "Your right eye," he started, frowning. "Did someone cut you?"

Zexion blinked. "I dunno, why do you ask?"

"You've got a gnarly scar and your eye's all cloudy," he said. "My friend Xigbar has the same thing, 'cause someone cut him."

"Hm, that's a strange coincidence. I don't really know what happened."

Demyx's brow furrowed. "Is that why you always cover it up?"

"No, my hair just kinda...grew that way and so I never bothered to tuck it back every five minutes," he said. "The first few days it really bothered me, but now I don't notice it."

"First few days?"

"After I woke up in the orphanage, my hair kept falling in my face and making me sneeze."

"Oh."

Zexion smiled a little, and swam away, causing the blond to let out a 'hey!' and chase after him. Zexion couldn't help but admire the way Demyx seemed to simply glide through the water, as if he had been in it his entire life. He wondered what he looked like when he swam. Did he seem anything like a dolphin when he swam? Or was he like his mothers, graceful swans?

"Dude, you look like a wet cat," Demyx said suddenly, cutting him off.

"Libi told me this morning that I looked like a wet kitten," he replied. "I do not understand how I resemble a feline, but I've learned not to question it."

"You don't really... Axel looks like a cat. You look like..." Demyx paused, as if deep in thought. "Like...well to be completely honest, you look like some kind of bad ass yet adorably sexy seventeen year old."

"Mom said I was maybe fifteen."

Demyx shook his head. "No, you feel like seventeen. Don't doubt the mystical Demyx... I'm good at this kind of thing. Libi is 33."

Zexion narrowed his eyes. "Yes, she is."

"See? I'm good at guessing. Besides, my sister is fifteen. I see a _lot_ of boys from ages thirteen to sixteen swooning over her. I know a seventeen year old when I see one."

"How old are you, then?"

"I'm...okay, don't laugh," he said, blushing. "I'm nineteen."

"Why would I laugh?"

"Because, I'm so _old._ I mean, when you turn eighteen, I'll already be twenty. That's just soooo lame, you have no idea."

Zexion stared at him. "No, no I don't have any idea."

.

.

They swam for about half an hour more, until Demyx complained about being hungry so they rode back to Zexion's house.

"Mom, can Demyx stay for dinner?"

"Yeah, no problem," she said, and set an extra plate down at the table.

"Thanks, Libi," Demyx said, smiling warmly.

"Don't mention it, Demyx," she said, smiling back. "I was so worried Zexion wouldn't make friends, he's so antisocial sometimes."

"Yeah... he has some mad skills though," Demyx said. "I dunno how he does it, but Zex here practically zooms through the halls without even looking up from his book."

Libi's eyebrows lifted in surprise. "That's some skill," she agreed. "I don't know how he can do that, when he's usually stumbling into walls at home."

Zexion hid his face in his hair, blushing slightly.

"That's 'cause he has no depth perception without his beloved books," Serene teased, walking into the kitchen. She smiled softly at Demyx. "I'm Serene, Zexion's mother," she said, holding out her hand.

"I'm Demyx!" He said, shaking her hand and smiling brightly. "It's nice to meet you."

Serene nodded. "The feeling is mutual," she said.

"Wow, you sound like Zexy. Hey, Zexy, is that where you get the proper speech from?"

Zexion stared blankly at Demyx.

"No, I think I got that from him, actually. It's like he's part dictionary or something," Serene said, laughing. Zexion glared at her. "Now, now, Zexion, you know I'm just teasing you."

Libi set down a pan of bourbon chicken with stir-fried vegetables and a bowl of white rice.

"Whoa, this is awesome," Demyx said. "I wish my mom could cook like this," he grimaced, recalling some horrible event. "Last time she tried the microwave blew up."

"I now know where you get your brains, Demyx," Zexion noted, smirking.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean? Jerkface!"

"Jerkface? Really, Demyx? Is that the best you could come up with?"

Demyx puffed out his cheeks, a sign of minor annoyance. "You're just jealous because that's an awesome comeback and you know it."

Zexion chuckled lightly, catching Serene of guard to the point where she actually choked.

"Oh my god, it _laughs,_ Libi! Call the discovery channel, quick!"

Libi smacked her girlfriend's shoulder, but smiled all the same, while Demyx and Zexion stared at them, confused. "She's just excited because Zexion's always so straight-faced. It took us forever to even get a smile outta him."

Demyx grinned. "Aw, Zexy, you think I'm funny? That's so nice of you! C'mere, you!"

Zexion scrambled to escape the crushing hug he knew was headed his way, but to no avail-Demyx grabbed his arm and pulled him into his chest, rocking him slowly. "My little boy's growing up," Demyx crooned, petting Zexion's hair.

"Let go, Demyx," he said, struggling. Demyx grinned and let him go.

Serene shot Libi a knowing look, having caught the massive blush on Zexion's face before he managed to conceal it behind his hair. Libi simply smiled and shook her head, saying a quiet 'boys will be boys' to the other woman.

Demyx went home after doing his homework with Zexion. He figured out that Demyx lived down a block and around the corner.

"Zexion," Serene said, when Zexion walked back into the living room. "I think it's time we had a little...talk."

"Okay. What do we need to talk about?"

After half an hour of pure terror for the boy, Zexion decided that he would never, ever, have children. Another half hour later, he confessed to not really being interested in girls. After another half hour, Serene somehow managed to teach him how sex between two men worked, and Zexion, to put it simply, was scarred for life.

He would never look at a bottle of lotion the same again.


	6. Smoke

_It was quiet. He remembered it having been loud just a few seconds ago, but now it was quiet. It was suffocating, the air was heavy and smelled of something he couldn't name._

_ All he knew was that if he cried, they'd find him. He didn't know who _they_ were, but he knew he wasn't supposed to let them find him. So he fought the tears, the gasping sobs that wanted to break free, even though he didn't know the reason for their persistent threatening of his eyes and throat. _

He woke with a start. His face was wet, and he was-

He was laying on the kitchen floor, with Libi looking down at him, concerned. He sat up, and clutched his head as it suddenly throbbed.

"Are you alright?"

"Why am I out here?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing," she said. "You must have been sleepwalking."

"Oh," he said, and sat up. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It's common in teenage boys."

"Demyx said he thought I was seventeen to-yesterday," he said, catching the kitchen clock indicating it to be 3 o'clock. "He claims to have a skill for guessing ages."

"It's possible, of course. You could easily just be small for your size, after all."

"Are you implying that I am short?"

Libi grinned. "No, you're just fun sized, honey."

Zexion glared at her, standing up and walking back to his bed. He flopped down on it, curling up into a ball under the blankets. Was that...what they called a nightmare? He sighed, deciding to decipher the meaning of the dream later, because in a few hours he would be expected to wake up.

.

.

.

Demyx wasn't at school the next day, nor the next, nor the day after that. Zexion was growing concerned, but when he tried asking Axel about him, the red-head had looked away and said he was probably sick. This concerned Zexion more, because in the short time he'd known Axel, he'd figured out that the teen only looked away when he was hiding something or lying.

The following Monday, Demyx came back, looking rather worse-for-wear. When Zexion asked him about it, Demyx had made up an excuse about being tired and changed the subject, so Zexion decided he would ask again later.

"So... Zexy. You wanna hang out after school?" Demyx asked on Tuesday, looking much better than he had the day before. Perhaps he had truly just been tired.

"Sure, Demyx," he said, although he didn't look up from his book. They were in their shared 'free-period' which they were supposed to use for studying, but since a) it was the second week of school, and b) Zexion never needed to study and Demyx simply didn't care, the two had elected to just waste the hour, since there weren't any major tests coming up. "What did you have in mind?"

"I dunno, I thought we could maybe go see a movie or something," he said, shrugging.

"I don't know of any good movies out now, do you?"

"Not really," Demyx said, sighing.

"Perhaps we should do something else, then, Demyx."

"Uh, let's see... Oh! Why don't we go to the mall?"

"What would we do there?"

"Wander around aimlessly and go to the arcade and stalk the security guards and play on the kiddy toys and people watch," Demyx said, and flashed him a grin.

"Well...that sounds amusing, to say the least. I am sure Libi would give us a ride, if you'd like," Zexion said, a small smile gracing his lips in reply to Demyx's grin.

"Zexy, you should smile more often! You're so cute and pretty, I mean, you are normally, too, but when you smile it's super cute," Demyx rambled off, gesturing wildly.

Zexion hid his face in his hair, feeling the blush taking over. "Demyx...you're rambling."

"Oh. Uh. Well. Hey Zexy, why do you always read Dolphin books?"

He blinked. "I don't know, to be quite honest with you."

"Do you like dolphins?"

Zexion thought for a moment before nodding. "I suppose I do. They are interesting creatures."

Demyx smiled then, and chuckled. "Yeah, they're interesting alright."

"Demyx," he said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Get your mind out of whatever rotten place it's wandered off to."

"What? I was just thinking about how I heard one time that dolphins have gay sex," he said, looking up at Zexion innocently. "I didn't mean nothin' by it..."

"Your ability to turn everything I find interesting into something perverted astounds me, Demyx."

Demyx looked at the floor. "Sorry... I don't mean to...sometimes I just think things and before I know it, I blurt them out..."

"I am aware," Zexion said, and offered the boy a small smile. "Though at this point I am considering a muzzle for you."

Demyx pouted. "I don't mind if you tie me up, if you're into that, but don't put a muzzle on me," he whined.

Zexion blushed, and looked away. "That's not what I meant," he said, shaking his head. "What is wrong with you today?"

Demyx looked around and leaned closer, putting a hand around Zexion's ear. "Well to tell you the truth, I'm _really_ horny right now," he whispered, and pulled away, fidgeting.

"Oh." _Oh. What an intelligent response, boy. Better luck next time, you gormless waste of flesh._ Zexion blinked at the thought. Where had _that_ come from? "I'm sorry, that must be difficult for you."

"Er, yeah..."

Zexion flipped the page, and sighed. It was difficult to read when he was being watched. He glanced at the blond, who quickly looked away, and went back to his reading. Then it was there again, the feeling of eyes on him. However, when he looked back at Demyx, he was sitting with his head on the table.

He scanned the room, but found that everyone else was minding their own business, not staring at him, so he shrugged it off and went back to his book, attempting to block out the sensation.

"Hello," a voice said, causing Zexion to jump slightly as he came face to face with a blue haired woman. "I don't believe we've met," she said, smiling. "My name is Aqua."

Aqua...why did that name seem familiar? Other than being a term for water, of course. He shoved the thought away. "Zexion Azure."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Zexion."

"The pleasure is all mine," he said, nodding. "Do you need anything from me?"

"I just wanted to make sure your friend there was alright," she said, gesturing to Demyx, who was now swaying in his sleep.

"He'll be fine," he said, shrugging.

As soon as he'd finished saying it, however, Demyx fell out of his chair and woke up, looking around. Aqua smiled at Demyx and helped him up, seeming to already know the blond.

Demyx chatted with the girl a few minutes before she went off to talk to someone else.

"Who was she?" Zexion asked, eying the strange look on Demyx's face.

"I have no clue," he said, then shrugged and sat down in the chair next to Zexion, leaning his head on his shoulder. "You smell nice," Demyx murmured sleepily.

Zexion felt the heat rise to his face. "Thank you, Demyx."

"You're welcome," came the drowsy response.

_He was scared; though he wasn't sure why. He knew he theoretically could escape, but if he ran __he'd be hurt worse. It was better to just let himself be found, than to hide and be found later. The anger would be less the sooner he was captured. The beatings would be less violent. _

_ He could easily defend himself. But that never turned out well at all. He'd run, and they'd find him, every time. Like they say, you can run, but you can't hide. It doesn't matter where you hide, you will always be found. The only way out of such a situation was to kill his attackers, or let himself be killed. It would, however, be stupid and selfish of him to allow death to take him. It would put the others in danger if he left. He couldn't allow something like that to happen. _

_ For his sisters, he would endure. Though they may be older, they are weaker. Perhaps not of body, but of mind. _

_ To allow the weak to be ruthlessly beaten by them would be cruel and immoral. He would not stand for it._

_ With a heaving sigh, he stood up and went to the call. He was met with a fist to the face, knocking him so hard he fell into the wall. Another hit went to his stomach, and he buckled over. Kicks where showered down on him, stomach, back, legs, head. After a few minutes, as the darkness started to swallow his consciousness, the hits stopped and his attackers left. He dragged himself into his 'room' a closet in the hall, really, and let the darkness claim him._

"Zexion!"

Zexion jumped. He looked around, realizing that he was in class. Demyx was standing over him, a concerned look on his face. "Demyx."

"Hey man, you okay? You just kinda conked out all the sudden," Demyx said, studying the slate haired boy carefully.

"I...didn't sleep well last night, I suppose."

"Do... do you want to talk about it?"

Zexion narrowed his eyes at the blond, and shook his head. "It means little to me."

"Hm, well, I'm here if you ever do need to talk, alright?"

Zexion nodded. "Where were you last week?"

Demyx blanched, and looked away. "I was, uh, you know. Around."

"Around where? Why weren't you here?"

"Uh...so Zexy, what's your favorite flavor of ice cream?"

"Ginger. Now where were you, Demyx?"

"Really? I like superman," the blond said, tapping his chin as his aquamarine eyes looked skyward.

"Quit trying to change the subject, Demyx."

Demyx looked at him, wounded. "I don't know what you mean, Zexy," he said, pouting. "I was just making conversation."

"Demyx, you are lying by omission."

The blond sighed. "If you _really_ must know, I was at home."

"Why? Were you ill?"

Demyx hesitated, but nodded, causing the bluenette to narrow his eyes at him.

"When you are ready to explain, feel free to do so, Demyx."

"So...um, what've you been up to?"

Zexion glanced at the blond, meeting his eyes. _Thinking you were dead,_ he thought. His glance turned to an annoyed glare and he went back to reading.

Demyx held up his hands in surrender. "Oo-kay then."

Zexion felt himself falling before he tripped. It was a sense of Deja Vu, to be sent hurtling towards the ground. The hits and stomps and kicking was oddly familiar too. Like... he'd been in this situation before. For the same reason.

To explain why Zexion was being beaten by a group of boys he didn't know, one would have to go back five minutes ago. Five minutes ago, Zexion wandered out of the school, with full intent of skipping his last hour. Unfortunately for Zexion, as soon as he walked out the back doors, he was met with the scene of three guys cornering a girl he later recognized to be Aqua.

Something in him snapped, and he chucked his book at the head of the largest of the three. All three turned around and ganged up on him. Zexion swallowed the yelp as he tried to defend himself, knowing that he was no match for three large males.

"No!"

The offenders looked up at the shrill cry. Zexion stood up, spitting out blood.

"Please don't hurt him! It's me you want, isn't it?"

"Stop_." _

The entire group looked at the doorway. A boy in a beanie, a girl with silver-blue hair, and a boy with short brown hair stood at the doorway. "Go to class, you losers, before I beat your asses," the boy in the beanie said. The three who had previously been attacking him grumbled and went back into the school.

"Zexion, are you alright?" Aqua asked, putting a hand on his back gently.

"Just...fine," he said, standing up and grimacing. "Why were they after you?"

"I...it's nothing, don't worry about it. I can protect myself," she said, looking down. "You shouldn't have gotten hurt for me."

Zexion blinked, looked over at the three newcomers, back at Aqua, and then spun on his heel and left.

"Ah-wait! You can't just leave!" The boy in the beanie said.

"Injured."

"Yeah, Seifer, I think we should let him go, y'know?"

Zexion glanced back at them, daring one of them to stop him as he walked into the parking lot. None of them did. He wandered around campus a while until he saw a familiar shock of red. "Axel?" He called, walking up to the red-head in the woods and putting a hand on his shoulder.

The redhead whipped around, eyes wide, and then sighed. "Oh, Zexion. I thought you were a teacher or somethin'."

"No, I'm not," he said. "What are you doing out here?"

Axel waved his hand, which had a pack of cigarettes and a lighter in it. "What do you think?"

"I see," Zexion said, nodding slightly. "Roxas will be angry."

"That's why we won't _tell _Roxas, right, Zexy?" Axel said, eyes flashing.

"Of course," he said, smirking. "What Roxas doesn't know won't hurt him."

"Thatta boy, Zex," Axel said, grinning. He put an arm around Zexion's shoulders, but the bluenette shrugged it off. "Hey, buddy, what happened?" Axel asked, noticing a bruise on the boy's jaw.

"Aqua was being...attacked," he said, blankly staring at a tree.

"So you jumped in and saved her? No offense, but I really didn't peg you to be the type, Zexy."

Zexion bit his lip. "I...I'm not sure why I did it."

"You two related? You both got that blue hair thing goin' for yah."

Zexion raised an eyebrow. "The color of one's hair does not necessarily signify relation."

Axel raised a cigarette to his lips, shrugging. "Just curious." He lit it, inhaling the smoke and blowing it out through his nose.

"...Why do you smoke, Axel?" Zexion asked, as he leaned against a tree.

Axel closed his eyes, humming lightly. "Most smoke for pleasure, for the release. I...smoke to die."

Zexion nodded. "Do you...wish to talk about it?"

Axel snorted. "Talk is cheap, Zexion. I can tell the world my troubles, but there ain't a thing you, or anyone else could do to take it away," he said. He frowned. "There's no undoing what happened."

"I offer no such thing," he said, closing his eyes and inhaling deeply. He opened his eyes and looked the redhead in the eyes. "Things...don't ever go away, and what troubles you now will always do so," Zexion smiled. "But there will always be someone for you to go to, Axel. In the end, we all die alone, but it's what we do in life that prevents us from dying lonely."

Axel blinked. "Whoa," he said. "You sure you belong in High school, Zex? That sounded like something a counselor would tell me."

"I am not an idiot, Axel. It is... common sense. One with any grasp of the concept can formulate a statement as I have," he said, rolling his midnight-blue eyes at him and smirking slightly.

"God, can you dumb it down for us common folk, your highness?"

"You're just a dumb ass with poor speech, who doesn't understand the most simple topics," he said blandly. "You have yet to learn, though I do not doubt you have lived through traumatic events. By ignoring them and blocking them out, you are unable to take from said events and therefore, history shall _repeat_ itself. Understand, Axel?"

Axel frowned but nodded, and took another drag from his cigarette. "You want me to talk, right?"

Zexion shrugged. "Whether you tell me or not, is your choice."

Axel chuckled, and coughed. "You want a smoke?" He asked, wiping a tear away.

"Depends. How long am I here?"

"A while," he said, smirking. He pulled out a cigarette and lit it for the bluenette. "This your first?"

"No clue," he said, shrugging as he took the stick from Axel and held it to his lips. "Guess we'll find out."

"Guess so," Axel said, shrugging. He watched as the smaller boy took a deep drag, closing his eyes and blowing out threw his mouth, forming small rings. "Definitely not your first, buddy."

Zexion smirked. "Guess not," he said, and took another drag. "Are you going to start talking, or not?"

Axel eyed the boy and sighed. "Where do I start?"

"Well that's the easy part," he said, blinking. "The beginning, of course."

Axel closed his eyes briefly, slumping down against a tree as he sat in the dirt. "Well...I guess I should say first and foremost that I was a foster kid," he said. "Been around the loop a few times. You know how it goes, right?" He looked at the boy and looked away, rubbing his neck. "...right, sorry." He sighed. "Anyways, I always got the shitty homes; the ones where they only did it for the money and treated you like less than dirt. After the tenth house, I was fifteen-and so I was completely ignored. Then this couple comes in, says they wanna meet me. So we meet and everything, and they adopt me.

"Naturally, I wasn't expecting much. However, I wasn't exactly expecting a home like this, y'know? They was real sweet to me, treated me good and all. Guess they had a kid that looked kinda like me, named Lea, who shot his wife and then himself. Real nice guy, I guess, back when he was alive. Anyways, that was years ago. These guys were old enough to be my grandparents. Turns out...they kinda _were._ That was all fine and dandy, you know, till they, uh, died.

"After that, I came to live with some distant relative. He was a real bastard, beat the shit outta me and sold me on the streets. Not like he was exactly the first to do it, but that didn't make me like it anymore. That lasted...two months. Someone shot his ass, and by that time, I was seventeen. So I just ran off, found myself here.

"You know why you're here, Zex?"

Zexion shook his head.

"Because this is where everyone who got fucked up before ends up. Fuckin' Roxas and Sora were forced to do child porn together for _years_ before child services caught their dad doin' it. The waitress at Olive Garden got kicked out for loving another girl, so they came here, got married and adopted a kid. Marluxia's mum made him dress like a goddamn _girl_ until he hit puberty, then she got rid of his ass. Larxene...well no one knows 'bout her 'cept Marly, but we've all seen the scars."

Zexion glanced down at the ground. "The waitress at Olive Garden...do you know her name?"

Axel looked him over. "Her name's Serene. Why?"

"That's my mother," he said, kicking a rock.

"So you know the story, then?"

Zexion nodded.

"Do you...did Demyx tell you his?"

Zexion's head shot up. "What do you mean?"

Axel glanced away, rubbing his neck. "I mean...it's not really my place to say," he said.

"Tell me, or your little boyfriend learns what you've been doing," he said, eyes narrowed.

"You blackmailin' me?"

"And if I am?" Zexion asked, smirking. "You're going to do it, Axel. I know how it works."

Axel rubbed his neck, grimacing. "Dem's gonna kill me, but okay," he said, shaking his head. "Manipulative bastard," he muttered, before looking at the bluenette. "Demyx's dad is alcoholic. So'z his mum, but she ain't in the picture anymore. See, his Dad's a really angry drunk...so she left. And Dem...well, he's gotta protect his sis, y'know? So he can't just up 'n leave. He's too kind to put himself first, so he takes it all. He ain't too smart, and he ends up missin' so much school 'cause of his dad beatin' on him, so he's on his third senior year now. If he don't pass this one, he'll probably end up droppin' out or something, end up like his daddy."

"No, he won't," Zexion said, eyes flashing.

"How would you know?"

"Because I'm not going to allow him to flunk, dumb ass."

Axel frowned. "He won't let you do his homework, he can't pay you."

Zexion rolled his eyes. "I'm going to _teach_ him what he's too stupid to learn in class."

Axel made a small 'o' with his mouth and glanced away.

"Axel? That you?"

"Demyx! Buddy! What's goin' on, buddy?"

"You seen Zexi-Oh. There you are!"

Zexion glanced up at the blond innocently. "Hi, Demyx," he said. "Were you looking for me?"

"Uh...yeah..." Demyx said, melting slightly. "You're so cute, Zexy," he squealed, enveloping the bluenette in a hug. "Like a cute little kitten!"

Axel snorted and walked away.

"Demyx...you're hurting me."

"Oh, sorry," Demyx said, eyes wide as he released the boy. "Hey... why do you smell like-OH MY GOD, IS THAT A CIGARETTE?"

Zexion flinched, and looked up at the blond, wounded.

"Zexion! You _know_ what these things do to people! You can't do that!"

"But...I learned something knew about myself by doing it," he said, blue eyes wide.

Demyx blinked. "What'd ya learn?"

"That I can do this," Zexion said, taking a deep drag and blowing out a heart. He smirked at the surprised look on Demyx's face. "I can make normal rings, too, of course."

"That's awesome," Demyx said, face shining with awe. He then seemed to remember himself and looked down at the slate-haired boy sternly. "Bad kitty," he said, slapping the cigarette to the ground and stomping on it. "Smoking is bad, bad, bad."

Zexion sighed. "I'm sorry, Demyx. Will you ever forgive me?"

Demyx's eyes softened, and he enveloped the boy in his arms. "I'm so sorry, Zexy, I didn't mean to be so mad at you," he said, nuzzling the blue haired teen.

"It's okay, Demyx," he said, smirking. He knew he shouldn't be toying with the blond this way...but something about his new-found smoking habit brought out a manipulative side to him that he wanted to test out... and someone as stupid and naive as Demyx was the perfect target. He could make the blond bend to his will just by making his expression softer, make it sadder, make his voice weaker. It was so simple.

And somewhere, deep down, he knew it was only the beginning.

I'm sorry for the delay! Thank you for reading.


	7. Crushed

"Zexion..." A soft voice said, touching a bruise on the boy's face.

Zexion flinched and looked over to his blond friend.

"What happened?"

Zexion shook his head. "Door."

"What?" Demyx asked, frowning, and slammed into the door that was suddenly opened. The blond fell to the ground with a garbled noise.

Zexion sighed and nudged the pile of Demyx on the ground with his foot. The blond groaned, and batted at his foot. "Are you alright, Demyx?"

"I think my face is bleeding."

Zexion frowned and crouched down next to the blond. The door slammed shut, causing both to jump slightly. "Demyx, look at me," he said softly. Demyx looked up at him. His eyebrow was split slightly, and a bruise was starting to form, but Zexion concluded that the blond would be fine. "Make sure you wash that out when you get home, alright?"

Demyx nodded, then bit his lip. "Zexy, you gotta kiss it better," he whined.

"I'm not sure what you mean. I have no such power."

Demyx frowned. "If you kiss the wound, it makes it hurt less 'cause of the love," the blond said. "You never knew that, Zexy?"

"Love isn't something I believe in, Demyx," he said. The devastated look on Demyx's face made him feel slightly guilty, and he sighed, smirking. "But I suppose I'll humor you," he said, and planted a small kiss on the boy's now-bruised forehead. "There. Better?"

"Well...my mouth kinda hurts..."

Zexion blushed and looked away, crossing his arms."Demyx...no."

"Darn..."

Zexion helped the blond up, ignoring the pout he was being given. "Perhaps you should pay attention to your surroundings, Demyx," he said sternly.

"Yeah...well maybe you should answer my questions..."

"You have yet to answer mine," he said. "I see no reason why I should have to tell you, if you don't tell me."

Demyx pouted. "That's because if I tell you, I'll get hurt!"

Zexion's eyes widened as turned his head to look up at the blond.

Demyx cursed, and smacked himself. "Bad Demy! Bad, stupid, stupid Demyx!"

Zexion frowned and grabbed the blond's hands. "Demyx, please don't hurt yourself," he said quietly. "I wouldn't want anyone thinking I beat you up."

Demyx giggled-that was the only way Zexion could describe the laughter-and broke his hands out from Zexion's grasp and wrapped the boy into his arms. "Silly Zexy! No one would think a cute thing like you would hurt me," he said, burying his face in the shorter boy's hair.

Zexion leaned into the blond, enjoying the strange warmth he gave off. It reminded him of bathwater, or maybe the ocean-the blond always kind of smelled vaguely like the beach to Zexion. "I'm not cute, Demyx," he mumbled into his shirt.

"Yes you are, Zexy! You can't fool me!"

_If only that were true,_he thought. "Your mother was a porpoise," he grumbled as the blond released him.

"A dolphin?"

"No, a porpoise."

Demyx stared at the blunette blankly. "So...a dolphin, right?"

"No, Demyx. A porpoise is not a dolphin."

"My mother wasn't a fish."

"...Demyx, porpoises are mammals."

Demyx made an 'o' with his mouth. "I'm pretty sure she wasn't that either."

Zexion fought the strong urge to smack the blond upside the head-he didn't want to make a fool of himself trying to reach-and rubbed his temples. "Demyx, you and I are mammals."

Demyx shot him a weird look. "I dunno what you're on, Zexy, but I think it's pretty obvious that my mum was an alien."

Zexion shook his head. "Why do you think that, dare I ask?"

"Uh, I dunno. Dad calls her a "goddamn alien" every time he talks 'bout her."

"Is your mother from another country?"

Demyx nodded vigorously. "She's Canadian!"

"Then that would be why, Demyx."

Demyx looked confused, but shook it off. "So...Zexy. What'd you do?"

"Nothing," he said, visible eyebrow furrowing slightly. "It's really none of your concern."

"Yes it is! 'Cause you're my friend, and I lurrrrvvveee you," he said, making a heart with his fingers and shoving it in Zexion's face.

"That's not a word, Demyx."

"You said you didn't believe in love, so I used a different phrase," the blond said, tilting his head. "Don't be mad," he said, a pout in his voice.

Zexion frowned. "I don't know why you would think that angers me," he said, quietly. His stomach clenched slightly as Demyx bumped into him as he walked. "Demyx, I'm curious about something. Perhaps you could satisfy it."

"Uh, sure, Zexy."

"When you're around someone, and your stomach clenches and your face heats up, what does that mean?"

Demyx smiled brightly, one of those entire-face smiles that lit up his aquamarine-blue eyes and made Zexion's stomach flutter. "Zexy, you gotta crush on someone," he said, grinning. "Who is it? Ohhhh, oh. Is it that blue-haired girl? Or, or, or, is it...I know! It's gotta be Kairi."

Zexion blanched. "A...a _crush?_" He stammered, voice weak.

"Yeah! You like someone! And you better tell me who it is, or I won't talk to you anymore."

Zexion blanked. _I can't tell him! He'll think it's weird!_ "Uh...yeah, it's...Kairi."

Demyx squealed, but Zexion couldn't help but notice the flicker of something he couldn't place in the blond's eyes. He didn't even know a Kairi, not that he could think of-no, no. She was one of Sora's friends...the red head. He inwardly grimaced, and glanced up at Demyx, who was jumping around. The blond stopped and turned. "You know what this means, right?"

"Uh...no?"

"You gotta tell her, man. You _gotta._"

Zexion couldn't help but cringe. He didn't particularly want some girl clinging all over him-Kairi seemed like the type to do such a thing. "I...don't know, Demyx. I don't think that's such a good idea."

Demyx tilted his head, and then laughed. "Don't worry, dude. Kairi's into your type. She likes the smart serious guys- you and Riku have a lot in common, you know."

Zexion felt his eye twitch. "I really don't think it's a good idea, Demyx."

Demyx pouted. "But it'd be cuuuuttteeee."

"I...don't think I'm ready for that kind of thing," he said. _And I never will be, especially with __that._

"Aw, are you nervous, Zexy?"

Zexion blinked. "No, Demyx. I am not nervous."

"Then what's the problemmmmmm?"

"Well, to be quite honest with you, Demyx," he said, studying the blond's face. "I'm gay."

Demyx then proceeded to flip out, which resulted in him whining. "Why didn't you just say so? You didn't have to lie about liking Kairi...I get it." The blond said, and smirked. "So you like _Axel?_ Does he know? Man, you gotta tell him. I mean, Axel feels the same way," he said, stroking his chin. "I'm sure Rox will be mad though, but I guess that's what you get when you don't confess, right?"

Zexion inwardly groaned. Demyx was truly clueless. "I don't like Axel. He's attractive, but I'm not particularly interested in him that way."

Demyx sighed. "Why can't you just come out and say it? If you like someone, you should tell them."

Zexion shook his head, and ducked into a Hot Topic, hoping to distract the blond.

"C'monnnnnn. Who do you like?"

Zexion frowned. "I don't see why it matters. I'm not really interested in a relationship that wouldn't last."

"Aw, don't be like that, Zexy. It could last. Just give me a hint."

Zexion eyed the blond. "Well, he's blond."

Demyx's face morphed into one of shock. "You—-you like—-" Zexion cringed. "Roxas?"

On the inside, Zexion's face had found it's way into his palm. On the outside, his face was blank.

"Hayner? No? Uh...blond, blond, blond." Demyx scratched his head in thought. "Uh, Seifer? Ew, you like him?"

Zexion shook his head, giving an exasperated sigh. "No, Demyx. Think about it. Who, in our circle of friends other than Roxas is blond?"

"Larxene...but I think that's a girl..."

Zexion face-palmed. And then he looked up, and found himself staring directly at something he could have gone without seeing at the moment.

Demyx, of course, seeing his friend back away looked up. He snorted. "It's just panties, Zex. Not gonna hurt you," he said, regarding the vibrator.

Zexion, however, had abandoned the blond to look at the jewelry cases. He glanced over at the taller boy when he approached, and smirked.

"What?"

"You're so stupid, Demyx."

Demyx pouted. "What'd I do?"

He shook his head, and tucked his bangs behind his ear. "Nothing, Demyx. Forget I said anything. Now, want to go do something stupid?" He said, smiling.

Demyx narrowed his eyes. "What _kind_ of stupid?"

"The kind that involves putting sharp objects into your friend's body in the men's restroom."

Demyx stared at the smaller boy. "You...want me to pierce something?"

Zexion smirked. "You should be over joyed, I'm trusting you with my body, Demyx."

Demyx mumbled something Zexion didn't quite catch, but agreed all the same. "I guess I can," he said. "I mean, I pierced Axel's lip..."

Zexion caught the attention of the bored looking girl standing around, quickly recognizing her as the silver-blue haired girl who had shown up with those two guys earlier. Her name tag read Fuu, which resulted in Demyx snickering and pronouncing it 'fuh' to annoy the poor girl. He elbowed the taller boy and apologized, asking her if she could open the case. She nodded, opening the case and pulling out the sterling silver hoops.

She glanced at Zexion, her reddish-brown eyes regarding him somewhat warmly as she rang him up. He was mildly thrown off by the display, but decided to ignore it.

._. ._. ._.

"It looks like your ears are already pierced, Zex, but I think they closed up," Demyx said, frowning. "Are you sure about this? It's gonna hurt like a bitch when I shove this in."

Zexion stared at the blond.

"Oh. Pfff," Demyx said, realizing the innuendo. "Not what I meant-seriously, this is gonna hurt."

Zexion shrugged. "Just get it over with, Demyx," he said, and watched the blond chew his lip.

"Well...okay then," he said, and opened the earring. "Ready?"

Zexion nodded, and pulled the hair covering his right ear back. Demyx bit his lip and shoved the piece of metal through his ear, making the bluenette wince and whimper slightly. It didn't take too long to get the earring in, though. Demyx let out a breath.

"You ready for the other side?"

Zexion nodded, smiling reassuringly. "Doesn't hurt too much," he said.

Demyx seemed worried still, but attempted to shove the other in his friend's ear as well. He sighed. "I don't think this one's gonna let me."

Zexion shrugged. "I guess that's okay," he said, and pulled the boy between his legs into his arms. The mall bathrooms were kind of cold, and sitting on the sink hadn't really helped him. Despite the mild discomfort of sitting on the sink, he enjoyed being able to see eye-to-eye with the blond. Demyx seemed shocked by the smaller boy's actions, having never been the one to be hugged first. "Sorry...I'm cold. Was that out of line?" Zexion asked into Demyx's neck.

"No...I'm just...surprised," the blond said, grinning as he wrapped his arms around Zexion's waist. "You can hug me whenever you want, Zexy."

Zexion smiled. He had tried to hug other people in Demyx's absence, but it just wasn't the same. Axel was _too_ warm, Larxene too soft, Marluxia too strong, Sora and Roxas too small-it was weird receiving hugs from shorter people, since he was used to being the shortest- and Riku's hugs were just awkward one arm embraces that both boys had agreed were best not happening ever again. "I dislike it when you miss school," he said.

"Aw, did Zexykins miss his Dem-dem?"

Zexion swallowed down the annoyance associated with Demyx's nicknames. "Don't flatter yourself, Demyx."

Demyx whimpered and Zexion knew the boy was pouting.

Zexion smirked and nipped at the boy's neck lightly before pulling away from him and jumping off the counter.

Demyx looked on as the bluenette exited the bathroom with clouded eyes and a confused look on his face. Then, realizing he was being left there, ran out of the restroom to find his friend.

- ._. ._. ._. (Switching POVs, yo.)

"I dunno what to do, Ax," the boy said, burying his face in his hands and shaking his head.

"What's up, Dem?"

Demyx pulled his head out of his hands and looked up at the sky. They were standing outside the school, waiting for the others of their friends to arrive. Zexion had left to go to his locker, so the two were left outside alone. The boy sighed and looked over at his red-headed friend. "It's Zexion...I just...I dunno what to do."

Axel rubbed his neck. "You like him that much, eh?"

Demyx sighed. "...yeah," he said, quietly.

"Well...why don't you tell him?"

Demyx shook his head, looking at his hands. "He likes someone else," he said, frowning. "He won't tell me who, though."

"Did he tell you any clues?"

"Well...he said they were blond, but I named all the blonds I knew and he said it wasn't any of them..."

Axel snorted, and raised his cigarette to his lips. "You're really stupid, Demyx."

Demyx gaped. "At least I'm not the one who's smoking on campus!"

Axel glanced around and shrugged. "I'm not the dumb ass here, Dem."

"Why do people keep saying I'm stupid?" Demyx asked, pouting.

"I dunno, 'cause you are? I mean, not only are you school stupid, but you're completely oblivious to _everything._"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Demyx whined.

"Okay, Dem. I'll help you out here. While you were gone, Zexion asked everyday about you. I mean, he may not be very expressive, but it was like he was a completely different person. He usually smirks and smiles, you know, in that small not really noticeable way, but you couldn't get the kid to even call someone an idiot."

Demyx stared blankly at his friend. "Maybe he was sick," the blond said.

Axel rolled his acidic eyes. "Yeah, or maybe he was totally depressed because a certain _blond_ wasn't there."

"I don't see where this is going, Ax."

Axel groaned and rubbed his forehead with his free hand. "The kid has the hots for you, man. You so much as touch the guy and he turns redder than my hair. Anyone else? Nothin'. Not even a _smile._"

"That doesn't mean nothin' though, Ax."

"He likes you," Axel said, eyes matching his stern voice. "And if I were you, I'd tell him how you feel. The kid's pretty smart," he said, shrugging. "I like you, Dem, and I-What? What's wrong?"

Demyx had frozen, looking at something by the door. The door slammed shut before Axel was able to see what he was looking at, but he had a slight clue as to what-or, rather, who it was. "I-I gotta go, Ax."

"Go get 'im, buddy! I believe in you!" Axel called after his friend, fist raised. Demyx flipped him off as he ran into the building and looked around.

- ._. ._. ._.

"I like you, Dem, and I-" Was all Zexion heard when he walked out of the building. Upon hearing this, he ran back in, and into the library, hurling himself through the book cases at a fast-walk. _Axel likes Demyx. Demyx likes him too. There's no room for you, Zexion. Give it up already. Just because he calls you cute doesn't mean he likes you,_ Zexion thought, as he slammed down on the ground in the corner of two bookshelves. _There's a reason it's called a crush. Because in the end, this sort of thing happens. You were better off avoiding them, boy. What a joke. _Zexion frowned. Where had that thought come from? He shook his head, which was buried in his arms, his knees pulled to his chest.

"Zexion?"

Zexion froze, and made no move. From the sounds of it, the blond was at the desk.

A librarian shushed him, and Demyx apologized. "Uh, have you seen Zexion? Kinda short, girlish figure-" Zexion scowled. "-blueish grey hair that's like eating his face, really cute though?"

The librarian must have sold him out, because a few minutes later, and Demyx was whispering his name a few bookshelves away. The blue-haired boy decided it would be best to just stay still-Demyx would probably give up soon. However, Zexion underestimated the blond, since he was soon enveloped by two warm arms, Demyx's ocean-breeze like scent filling his nostrils. Zexion ignored the blond. "Zexy... what's wrong?"

Zexion made a small noise in his throat, a squeak, really, but didn't answer.

"C'mon, buddy," Demyx pleaded. "You can tell me, I won't get mad."

Zexion drew in a deep breath. "I...it doesn't matter. I was acting irrationally. A foolish mistake."

"Zex...don't be so down on yourself," he said, frowning. "It's okay to feel stuff, I know you like to try and avoid it but...everyone has emotions. It's part of being human, you know? Empa-whatever it's called."

"Empathy."

"Yeah! That! See? What would I ever do without you?"

"Make a fool of yourself, flunk your third senior year."

"Right-o!" Demyx said, flinching slightly. "So come on, Zexy, tell me what's wrong. I mean, it's obviously something if it hurt you like this."

"I'm not hurt."

Demyx chuckled. "Yeah, and I'm not Demyx. I may be stupid, but I can tell when you're lying to me, Zexion."

_No you can't._ Zexion thought. He grunted a small 'hm' in response to the blond.

"Zexyyyyy, sexy Zexyyyy, why won't you tell meeee?"

Zexion groaned as Demyx began shaking him. "It's not important, let me wallow in self pity."

Demyx frowned. "Zexy. I know it's something. I _know_ it is. I will find out, and you don't want that. You should just tell me, and save yourself the humiliation, because I'll shout it out to everyone at lunch, so help me god."

Zexion cringed. "I don't think you would, actually."

"Beeeettttchhh please," Demyx said. "I will take that microphone from the principal and I will spill all your business if you don't tell me."

"Demyx."

"Yes, Zexy?"

"_You're_ my problem, okay? Just leave me alone!" Zexion growled, facing the blond.

Demyx flinched, the hurt evident in his eyes. He looked away. "I...I'm sorry you feel that way, Zexion," he said, and stood up, walking away.

Zexion cursed. "Demyx..." he called out, voice weaker than he'd liked. The blond either ignored him or didn't hear him, because he simply raised a hand to wipe his face and turned the corner. "I...didn't mean for you to leave," he whispered, wiping a tear of his own and looking at the saline on his hand. _I'm such a wimp. How could I be so stupid?_

- ._. ._. ._.

I'm sorry my breaks were stupid and didn't work last chapter. D:

Anyways...don't hate me? Please?

Thanks for reading!


	8. Philophobic

It was December. Snow covered the ground and the wind nipped at his nose and fingers. Zexion soon decided that he did not enjoy this 'winter' Mr. Even seemed so intrigued by. It was cold, unwelcoming, and hurt his eye.

He had started talking to Fujin, somewhat. It was still difficult to hold a conversation with the girl, but he was beginning to understand the meaning she stuffed into those single-worded responses. Enough that he was somehow convinced by the strange girl to force Demyx to speak to him again.

He took a deep breath, and stepped in front of the group he'd once been a part of. Larxene glanced up at him, nodded, and went back to braiding Marluxia's hair-she didn't really seem to care that he and Demyx had a fight, and was still pretty indifferent towards him. The next to notice him was Roxas, who also hadn't a huge problem with Zexion. However, with Roxas's head whipping up, Axel's head whipped up, and Zexion reevaluated his plan.

Demyx didn't look up. In fact, it looked as if Demyx was looking anywhere _but_ the bluenette. So, in response, Zexion walked up to him slowly, and jerked the blond boy's head up himself. He knew now that everyone was staring at him in shock, but he ignored it as he swallowed his nerves and did something he'd probably regret later.

He pressed his lips to Demyx's.

Someone pulled him away. He wasn't entirely sure if it was Axel or Riku, only that it was violent and ended with him tossed across the small area and slammed into a wall. He flinched, but decided if they attacked, he would let them. He probably deserved it.

But no attack came. Instead, soft, warm hands cradled his face. He opened one eye slowly, and looked up into green eyes with long lashes. Larxene smiled before turning back to glare at the group-mainly Demyx, he noted, and then went back to her spot.

Zexion blinked. Had Larxene just...defended him?

_Holy shit._

Roxas stood up and ran over to him. "Hey, you alright, Zexion?"

Zexion looked at the blond, and nodded.

"Roxas, don't talk to that bastard," Axel growled.

Roxas rolled his eyes. "I'll talk to him if I _want_ to, Ax. He's my friend too. Just because Demyx takes shit the wrong way doesn't mean I gotta hate everyone who hurts him."

Axel frowned, his eyebrows upturned as he looked away.

Zexion's gaze, however, was fixed on the blond who was currently touching his fingers to his lips, confused. Demyx's eyes flickered over to him, once, twice—-three times. The third time, his gaze lingered a second too long. Zexion smirked, and walked over to him. "Demyx... you _were_ my problem-and still are,-but I never said why, did I?" He whispered in the blond's ear.

Demyx looked away. "If I'm such a problem, why are you here?You told me to leave you alone, so I did."

Zexion leaned his head against Demyx's shoulder. "I was...upset. I didn't mean that I wanted you to completely ignore me," he said.

"Then what the hell did you want, Zexion?"

"I...wanted _you,_" he said, quietly. "But Axel did too."

Realization dawned on the blond boy's face. "You...I...I'm really stupid," Demyx said.

"Yeah, you are," Zexion said, grinning.

"Shut up and kiss, faggots!" Larxene yelled.

Demyx scowled. Zexion rolled his eyes. Together, they flipped her off.

._. ._. ._.

"Happy."

Zexion smiled. "Yeah... I am," he said, looking at the silver haired girl. "He...isn't ignoring me anymore."

"Love."

Zexion sighed. "I...don't believe in love, Fuu. You know that," he said.

"Philophobic."

Zexion smirked. "Am I?" She nodded. "I guess I am, aren't I?"

"Well, usually when someone's afraid of something, they face it, kid."

Zexion looked up at the new voice. Larxene stood there. She nodded to Fuu and then looked back at him. "How do I do that?"

She snorted. "Whatever way you want," she said, shrugging. "Though most people would suggest you grow a pair and just ask Demyx out, 'cause we're all sick of him moping about like some kicked puppy."

Zexion looked at the table. "How do I do _that?_"

Larxene rolled her eyes. "You walk up to him, tell him you're taking him to the movies, use force if you gotta, and take the damn kid to the movies," she said. "I can't believe I defended your ass. You rival Demyx in stupidity."

Zexion frowned.

"Ugh. I'm not insulting you, Zexion. I'm saying you have no social skills."

"Oh," he said. "Yes, I suppose you are correct, my social skills are rather...lacking."

She nodded satisfactorily and walked off.

"Go," Fuu said, smiling at him.

Zexion nodded, and wandered off to where he was sure Demyx would be-with Axel leaning against the school loitering.

"Uh-oh. Speak o' the devil," Axel said, as Zexion walked up.

Zexion shot him a wary look and then focused on Demyx. "Demyx...can I talk to you? In...private."

"If you got somethin' to say, you can say it in front of me," Axel said, shrugging. "He's just gonna tell me later anyways."

Zexion nodded. He didn't really care either way. "Larxene told me to grow a pair and Fuu said I should get over my fears, so Demyx," he said, and met the blond's eyes. "I like you. A lot. And I want to date you. So we're going to the movies, now."

Demyx stared blankly at him, then looked at Axel, then looked at Zexion, uncertainty plastered on his face. "I'm not sure if I just got asked out or commanded," he said, lips twitching upwards.

Axel smirked. "Well, if yah ask me, that was an _order_, so you better do what he says, lest he truly grow a pair and make you his bitch."

"I-"

"No, Zexion, I'm not going to go on a date with you," he said, smiling softly.

Zexion frowned. "Why not?"

"'Cause you didn't say the magic word," he said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Magic word?" Zexion asked, raising an eyebrow. "Well, alright then. We're going to the movies now, _please._"

Axel snorted and took a drag on his cigarette. "I think you'd better do it, Dem. He sounds pretty desperate."

Demyx rolled his eyes. "Shut up, Axel. Your commentary isn't needed," he said, shoving his friend's shoulder. He smiled at Zexion. "Alright. But on one condition."

"What's your condition?"

Demyx smirked. "You. Hug. Now."

Zexion raised an eyebrow, but launched himself into the arms he'd missed so dearly in the past few months, breathing in that ocean-scent that haunted him, soaking up the warmth he'd longed for since it left. His eyes burned, but he forced away the tears-he refused to cry.

"I missed you, buddy," Demyx said into Zexion's hair. "Larxene's just not the same, she hits me when I mess up on my homework."

Zexion smiled. "So do I, Demyx."

"Yeah, but you're cute, she's not."

"Ew, get a room, guys. You're crampin' my style."

Demyx rolled his eyes. "So, how 'bout that movie, Zexy?"

Zexion smiled at the use of his nickname and smiled up at the blond. "Let's go," he said, dragging the blond by the hand.

"You got a movie in mind?" Demyx asked.

Zexion paused. "Well...no. I assumed you would know what to see," he said.

"I dunno," Demyx said. "Only thing that sounds good is that zombie flick," he paused and looked around. "Last time I saw one, I thought everyone would turn into a zombie and eat my brains so I locked myself in Axel's closet for a week."

Zexion laughed, shocking them both. He quickly regained his composure. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you, it's just that I could see that happening, and Axel sitting outside the door yelling 'come out of the closet, Demyx,'" he explained.

Demyx blinked. "That's actually exactly what happened," he said, tilting his head. "How'd you know what happened?"

Zexion shrugged and smirked. "You're just that stupid, I guess."

Demyx pouted. "Well if I'm so stupid, maybe I should just-"

Zexion cut him off with a kiss. "I never said I didn't like it," he said when he broke away. "You're you, and that's the only way you _can_ be."

Demyx grinned. "You're adorable, Zexion," he said, kissing the boy on the nose. "It's snowing."

Zexion looked up. "Yeah...it is," he said, and for once he didn't mind the cold. "I always hated snow, but...with you here, I can almost-_enjoy_ it."

Demyx looked down at the bluenette. "Everything's better with someone you care about," he said. "Even zombie apocalypses are less shitty when you've got a buddy by your side."

Zexion chewed his lip. "Dem...I don't want to be your buddy."

Demyx frowned, and removed his hand from Zexion's. "Oh...I get it...That's okay."

Zexion smirked and grabbed the hand. "I wasn't done, Demyx," he said. "I don't want to be your _buddy._ I want to be your _boyfriend._"

Demyx sputtered.

"Or lover, or partner, just not your _buddy,_" Zexion said, smiling. "Is that alright?"

Demyx just nodded.

"Good," he said, and leaned into the taller boy.

"Zexy," Demyx said, quietly. "I'm cold."

Zexion smiled, wrapping the taller boy in a hug in an attempt to warm him slightly. "Where do you want to go, Demyx?"

Demyx bit his lip. "Why don't we just go to your house?"

Zexion nodded, and led them to his house. "Mom? I'm home," he called, as he put away his jacket-Demyx apparently was rebelling against the man and not wearing one, the idiot-and tottered into the kitchen, blond at his heels.

"Hi honey," Libi said, and looked up. "Oh! I haven't seen you for a while, Demyx." She smiled at the blond before going back to what Zexion guessed was order forms for the dance troop's costuming. "Zex, what size shoe do you wear?"

He took off his shoe and looked at the tag. "...ten." Zexion, during his stay with the couple, had joined the dance troop, but due to his small stature in comparison to the rest of the troop (because they were all giants) he usually was only in performances requiring a child role.

"Whoa, why do all the short people have huge feet?" Demyx said, throwing up his hands.

Zexion frowned. "What do you mean?"

"You and Sora,-and Roxas of course, since their twins,-all wear like ginormous shoes!"

Zexion narrowed his eyes at the blond. "If I'm correct, that's not a bad thing."

Demyx snickered.

Libi rolled her eyes. "I know what you're talking about, twerps. That stays _out _of my kitchen," she said, shooing the two. "Go be boys elsewhere."

Demyx and Zexion filed out of the kitchen and into the bluenette's room. Demyx flopped down onto Zexion's bed, stretching. Zexion closed-and for good measure, locked-the door behind him and crawled onto the bed next to Demyx.

"So, uh, wanna test out that theory?" Demyx said.

Zexion rolled his eyes. "Larxene already told me," he said. "You're tiny."

Demyx whined. "Am not! That witch doesn't know!"

Zexion raised an eyebrow and rolled over so he straddled the blond's chest. "Trust me, Larxene _knows_."

Demyx tried to scowl but found it difficult when Zexion was on top of him, and found himself instead pulling the smaller boy's head down to his level and into a kiss.

Zexion smiled slightly into the kiss, pressing his lips against Demyx's, one hand keeping him from falling on top of the blond, the other cradling his face. Demyx opened his mouth slightly, deepening the kiss. Zexion happily obliged, nibbling on the other's lip, causing Demyx to let out a small gasp and using that to slip his tongue into Demyx's mouth. He let out a soft moan as Demyx's tongue rubbed against his own, allowing Demyx to flip them over so Zexion was on his back, legs still wrapped around the blond's waist.

A knock at the door startled them and Demyx fell off the bed, a consequence of jumping three feet. Zexion fixed his hair and pulled his shirt down and answered the door. Demyx, however, sat on the floor in a daze until the bluenette boy walked up to him, titled his head, and dropped to his knees between Demyx's legs and wrapped his arms around the blond's chest, a small hum of content forming in the smaller boy's throat.

Zexion sighed instead, closing his eyes as he buried his face against Demyx's chest.

He was..._happy,_ he decided.


	9. Leaving

Demyx sighed. He wouldn't be able to go to school like this- people would freak. Zexion would worry if he didn't go to school, but Zexion would worry no matter what. The blue haired boy always seemed to be concerned about Demyx, though Demyx did his best to keep away anything resembling pain from his expression, so Zexion shouldn't have suspected anything- no one else did.

Demyx grimaced as he put the concealer over the bruises. His left eyelid seemed a bit darker than the other, but he hoped that he could pass it off as nothing. Zexion might notice, because he usually noticed every little thing, but he wouldn't make a huge fuss-he knew how prone Demyx was to walking into doors and the like.

He quietly walked passed the couch where his father was passed out, and into his sister's room. She smiled lightly at him and they left the house-this was standard procedure for them; Demyx made sure it was safe, and they'd leave, or Demyx would hold their father off until she left and then escape. They'd been doing it for years, ever since their mom left them there and threw herself off a bridge.

His sister was only seventeen, the same age as most of his friends from school. (Axel and Marluxia were eighteen, Roxas and Sora were sixteen.) Her hair was darker, a shade of light brown rather than dark dirty blond, but their eyes were the same deep bluish green. They were both very carefree and happy, despite having such bad home lives.

"Hmmm?" She said, looking back at her brother. "Is there something in my hair?"

Demyx smiled and shook his head. "Just thinking," he said.

"Oh..." She said, and put a finger to her mouth, smiling mischievously. "Well don't think too hard, I wouldn't want you to hurt yourself," she said.

"Ha ha, very funny," Demyx said, rolling his eyes. "I'm not the one who couldn't find the doors at Walmart."

"Hey! That place is really big," she said, pouting. "It's not my fault I couldn't see them..."

Demyx mussed his sister's hair. "Whatever, kid."

She batted his hands away and pouted. "You're so mean to me, Dem-dem," she said.

"Hey, what're brothers for?"

She tuck her tongue out at him and ran ahead upon catching sight of Kairi. Demyx sighed, and kicked a rock. It was spring now, and all the snow had melted and turned the ground to muddy gunk that threatened to steal your shoe when you walked in it.

He turned the corner and saw Zexion waving from his driveway before the blue-haired boy walked up to him, frowning. Demyx smiled at him, kissing the boy on the cheek. "Why the long face, cutie-pie?" He said, poking the bluenette on both sides of his frown and pulling up.

Zexion's eyebrow twitched in annoyance but he smiled anyways, batting his boyfriend's hands away. "You're acting awfully emo today, Demyx. Are you feeling alright?" Usually the blond was practically skipping up to his doorway, enveloping him in a hug and spinning around, much to Zexion's chagrin.

Demyx shrugged. "Just thinkin' bout stuff," he said.

That seemed to _really_ worry Zexion, because the bluenette's brow furrowed as he studied the blond's face. "That's not like you, Demyx."

Demyx stuck his tongue out at the smaller boy, before grabbing his hand and leading him down the sidewalk. They had gotten together five months ago last Tuesday, and everyone pretty much knew it. Zexion still didn't remember much about his past, but his sister Fujin had found him and he realized that the nightmares he'd had since he met the blond were his subconscious's way of telling him the past.

Zexion had been born to a rape victim. He and Fuu were twins, Fujin being older by a good two minutes. His biological mother had named him Ienzo, which coincidentally was the middle name Serene gave him upon adopting the small boy. Apparently, he was completely mute as a child, but only because his mother never bothered to teach them to speak properly, so what few words he did know were limited to "food" "yes" "no" and "bathroom" until he and Fuujin taught themselves to read-though she never really deviated from her one-worders, even to this day.

Zexion, similar to Fuu, rarely showed any emotion. However, if you were able to get past the seemingly non-existent facial expressions, one could read him much like a book-even someone like Demyx, who had the reading level of an eighth grader was able to read Zexion like a story book. Everything you ever needed to know was hidden behind those dark blue-grey eyes.

Zexion also had a past of smoking, which he'd proven to Demyx once by blowing hearts. Demyx had gotten mad at him for smoking, but soon gave up since his best friend was a smoker-which was where Zexion had gotten the cigarette to demonstrate on-and therefore couldn't exactly scold the bluenette. They'd gone to a new years party at Marluxia's house, and they soon learned that Zexion and alcohol led to the funniest thing ever- but agreed that it shouldn't happen often.

When Zexion was drunk, Zexion was a total derp. It was like he turned into Demyx, rather than consumed half a bottle of vodka with Luxord. When you threw in Demyx, who was a clingy, crying drunk, it only got better. Because a drunk Zexion meant hyper-active, overly emotional, and extremely loving, he was holding Demyx the entire night, trying to make the blond stop crying-which resulted in Demyx crying harder because the boy was 'so nice to him and he didn't deserve it' whilst Zexion rocked him back and forth violently.

That night had ended with the two stumbling drunkenly back to Zexion's house and sleeping on the floor next to buckets on the kitchen floor. Demyx didn't get hung over, unlike Zexion, who was perfectly content to just lay on the floor in fetal position the rest of his life. Demyx eventually managed to get the boy into a chair and forced him to drink coffee, eat bread, and take a pain killer before letting him sleep. Zexion vowed to never have a drinking competition with Luxord again-even if he had won by half a shot.

"Demyx," his voice startled the blond out of his thoughts.

Demyx glanced at Zexion, who's face was filled with concern. "What is it, Zexy?"

"Why won't you tell me what's wrong?"

Demyx smiled softly down at the boy. "It's really nothing, Zex. I'm just spacey today," he said.

Zexion looked at him warily. "You really ought to turn him in, you know," he said quietly scrutinizing the blond's less than perfect makeup job. "Or at least get a better concealer."

Demyx winced. "Is it really that obvious?"

The slate haired boy nodded. Demyx sighed, shoulders slumped. "I don't know...I mean, technically I could just move out, but-"

"If you do, Selphie will be left with him," Zexion finished, nodding. "Which is why you turn him in. Not only is she a witness, but there is visible proof of him attacking you, which even though you no longer qualify as his child, is still a legal case-but if he's accused of domestic violence, child services will be obligated to remove her from your home."

Demyx blinked, not really absorbing any of that. "So...what would happen if I turned him in?"

"Selphie would be placed in a foster home until she is either adopted or able to sustain herself, as you are clearly not financially stable...nor are you exactly...competent."

"Wha-hey! Zexy, that's not niccceeeeeee," the blond whined, flailing slightly at the insult on his intelligence-even if it was kind of true.

Zexion shrugged, smirking. "If you wanted someone nice, you should've gone for a different piece of jailbait, Dem."

Demyx stammered. "Y-you're not jail-bait! Age of consent is like...16! And it's not like we've done anything bad..."

Zexion rolled his one visible eye at the blond, still smirking. "And who's fault is that?"

Demyx bit his lip, looking away. "Well...if you wanna be technical it's Axel's..." Zexion shot him a look. "Okay, fine! It's mine!" Demyx had a record of chickening out last minute-and occasionally actually running out of the space leaving Zexion there, mildly confused.

Zexion smirked triumphantly, and rose up on his tippy-toes to plant a kiss on the blond's cheek. Demyx, however, turned his head at just the right moment, so the kiss caught him on the lips, and he kissed the bluenette back. Zexion huffed slightly, but smiled anyways.

"Hey...Zex? Where are we?"

Zexion glanced up at the blond. "You weren't paying attention? We're skipping school," he said. "And turning your dad in."

Demyx froze. "I...I dunno, Zex. What if they don't believe me?"

Zexion rolled his eyes. "Demyx, you're covered in bruises," he said. "And frankly, I doubt they're going to think someone as small as me could do that-if they do, they'll further investigate. Your father's fists are about twice the size of mine, as are his feet. He is also about...6'4 if my calculations are correct-which the _are_, of course-and he is about 210 pounds."

Demyx doubled back. "Are you shittin' me?"

Zexion blinked. "No, Demyx, I am not 'shittin'' you," he said blankly. "It's called math, but you wouldn't know that, would you?"

Demyx flinched. He didn't like Zexion's colder side when it was used against him. It was all good if it was used on someone else-especially Sora,-but when the bluenette used it on him it just...hurt. "I don't think they taught us how to be geniuses in math class," he said, pouting.

Zexion sighed, shaking his head. "You're lucky you're cute, Demyx," he said under his breath.

The tips of Demyx's mouth curled up. "What was that, Zexy? Did I hear that right? You think I'm _cuuuteee?_"

Zexion hid his face in his hair, and Demyx automatically knew that meant the shorter boy was blushing. "Shut up," he muttered, elbowing the blond. "You already knew that."

Demyx stuck his tongue out, flouncing away down the sidewalk.

Zexion shook his head and dragged the blond back, and then into the building. "You're doing this for Selphie, Demyx."

Demyx pouted. He knew it was the right thing to do-one day he might not be able to protect his dear younger sister. He always had to make arrangements for her to spend the night at Kairi's house if he didn't plan on going home that night, because his father wasn't trustworthy in the least. It had gotten to the point where most nights, Selphie slept in Demyx's room with him-she only went to her room after their dad had passed out for the night, or if the lush went out partying.

So he did it. And after long hours of questioning and Selphie being pulled out of school to also be questioned, they were assure that it would be taken into the law's hands. For the time being, Selphie was to stay with a friend, and Demyx was told it was in his best interests to stay at a friend's house just in case-his dad's friends weren't the best crowd, in other words.

Zexion called his mom and asked if Demyx could sleep on their couch a few nights until this all blew over-well, at least that's how Demyx interpreted it. Demyx frowned at the troubled look on his boyfriend's face. "I could always stay at Axel's...or Sora's..." the blond suggested.

Zexion glanced up at him, then went back to staring at the floor as words were rapidly flowing out. The boy sighed. "It's the middle of the week, Libi, and I really, really don't think I want to meet them, even if they claim to be okay with it again," he said, brow furrowed. "People lie. It could easily turn into a fight."

The voice on the other line spoke too quickly for Demyx to really pick out any actual words-he had a strange feeling it wasn't even in English, considering Zexion's response wasn't either.

Zexion closed his phone with a sigh and glanced up at the blond. "Unless you feel like being cramped up in a car with a motion-sick terrified woman and then facing said woman's homophobic family, I suggest calling Axel," he said, handing the blond the phone.

Demyx nodded and called Axel-the redhead would be out of school by now-and told him the situation. Axel answered with a 'shit, Dem, yeah c'mon over" and hung up-Demyx had this small suspicion that the redhead had been up to no good.

"I wish Serene's parents had chosen a better time to claim acceptance," Zexion muttered.

Demyx frowned. "I'll miss you, Zexy," he said. "How long are you gone for?"

"About a week-it takes a day to get up there."

Demyx's frown turned into a pout. "You'll call me-or, well, Axel—-right?" The blond didn't have a phone-his father had stopped paying the bill long ago.

Zexion nodded. "C'mon, let's go get something to eat, shall we?"

Demyx's mood significantly brightened at the mention of food. "Can we...can we get cake?"

Zexion glanced at the blond. "Why?"

"'Cause it tastes good?"

Zexion's eye twitched. "Insufferably sweet," he said, making a slightly disgusted face.

"Oh yeah, you don't like sweets...freak."

Zexion pinched his nose slightly. "We can get cake. I'll just...get something else. Sound good?"

Demyx nodded enthusiastically. "Thank you, Zexy, you're the best!"

The blunette shook his head, smiling slightly. They stopped in a small bakery and got Demyx a cake and Zexion a Chai tea. They sat in comfortable silence as they ate and drank respectively.

"Are you sure you have to go?"

Zexion nodded. "Unfortunately, I have no choice. It is mostly due to my existence that Serene's parents have decided to try to make amends."

Demyx sighed, running his hands through his hair, and then rested his head on an arm, looking up at Zexion. He sighed again, louder. The slate-haired boy glanced down at him questioningly. The blond sighed loudly again.

"Yes, Demyx? What is it?"

Demyx sighed loudly.

"Demyx...no," the bluenette said, shaking his head. "We are _not_ doing this here."

Demyx sighed, lifting his head so he could flail and setting it back down. "This sucks. You're going away for a week and I don't even get to say a proper goodbye."

Zexion rolled his eyes. "Libi and Serene are going to go shopping before we leave, you can _help me pack,_" the bluenette said, smirking. If he had been anyone else, that would have come with a nudge-nudge wink-wink.

Demyx sat up, and quickly scarfed down his cake. Zexion had finished his tea already, and so they left the shop hand in hand, walking towards home. Demyx was delighted to see that the car was gone, as were Zexion's parents.

Zexion led Demyx into his room, closing and locking the door behind him and pushing the blond down on the bed. The blunette climbed over him, pressing his lips against the other boy's, quickly gaining entrance to the blond's mouth. Demyx wound his fingers through the slate-colored silk of Zexion's hair with one hand, and pressed him closer with the other on the small of Zexion's back. Zexion responded by breaking the kiss to plant them along the blond's jaw and neck, occasionally nipping at the pale flesh, earning small not-quite moans from him.

Soon shirts were shed, and their mouths reunited temporarily for a quick match of tonsil hockey before Zexion once again broke the kiss and started planting kisses down Demyx's torso, tongue occasionally darting out and licking the smooth skin. The slate-haired boy went back to his lips, smirking and grinding his hips into the ones below him, getting a small whimper out of the blond and squirming as he lifted his hips into Zexion's. Zexion bit slightly at the other boy's earlobe and whispered hoarsely into his ear, "Let it out, I want to _hear_ you."

Demyx gladly obliged as Zexion's hand found it's way into his boxers, squeezing. Demyx undid his pants, and set off to work on Zexion's. Zexion growled in annoyance and pulled the blond's pants off completely, along with his own, and thrust his hips into Demyx's, causing the blond to moan audibly from the skin-on-skin contact. Zexion bit down on the blond's neck, causing his hips to buck upwards and into Zexion's, to which Zexion responded by rubbing against him.

.

.

.

.

When Demyx woke up, Zexion was rushing around the room, opening drawers and pulling out what looked like random clothing and neatly stuffing them into a suitcase at the edge of the bed. The blond sat up, warily eying his boyfriend. They hadn't exactly done anything further than dry humping, because Demyx had a tendency to fall asleep easily when wrapped up in Zexion's arms.

Normally, people would assume that Zexion was the girl in the relationship-the 'uke' as Axel would put it. However, despite his height and hair, Zexion was more dominant that Demyx; he just was better at hiding his sexual urges than the blond who usually just told people he was horny. This had perplexed Axel beyond belief when he'd first walked in on the two making out in the woods around the school, seeing Demyx as the one shoved up against the tree.

Zexion tossed Demyx's clothes at him upon seeing the blond sitting up. "Get dressed, I leave in an hour and Axel will be here to pick you up in ten minutes."

Demyx frowned but obeyed, pulling on his clothes as he watched his boyfriend running around his room shirtless-an instant mood lifter-and sat on the bed. Zexion finally closed the suitcase and walked over to him, burying his face into the blond's chest. Demyx hummed happily and wrapped his arms around the shorter boy, making Zexion stiffen slightly from his cold fingers on his bare back. "Zexion..."

Zexion nuzzled his neck in response, murmuring a small "what?"

"I...I'm gonna miss you," Demyx said, frowning.

"I'll be back in a week," he said.

"Hey Zexy?"

"Yes, Demyx?"

"I love you," Demyx said softly, pressing his lips to the boy's hair.

Zexion broke away from the blond, and went to his dresser, pulling out his trademark v-neck ¾ sleeved black shirt and pulling it on, not looking at him.

Demyx looked down at his hands. "Sorry," he whispered, just loudly enough for Zexion to hear him.

Zexion shook his head, turning to smile at the blond. "Demyx, you know I don't believe in such things," he said, and looked the blond in the eye, smirking. "You know you don't mean it, so why do you lie to me?"

Demyx frowned. "But I _do_ mean it, Zexion! You're the most important person in my life-" he said. "I can't imagine my life without you," he added, softly, looking into gray-blue eyes with pained blue-ish green ones. "Why can't you get over it and love me back?"

Zexion stared blankly at him for what felt like an eternity. It was one of those times where Demyx couldn't see the thoughts as they flickered past in the blunette's eyes, which frustrated him greatly. "I-"

Demyx scowled. "You're _afraid_ of me, aren't you? Afraid that I'll let you fall," he said, scrutinizing the boy's face.

Zexion's one visible eye widened. "That's not-"

Demyx chuckled bitterly. "Don't bother lying to me, Zexion," he said. "I know you better than that-I spend every minute of my life thinking about you, after all.

"It's okay to be afraid of love; it's a scary thing. But you can trust me when I say I love you, I really do mean it. I don't care if you can't or won't say it back, because I know you feel the same towards me."

Zexion stared at him, and looked away, biting his lip. His hand was shaking-Demyx had learned that his right hand often shook when he was upset. Demyx reached for it, and held it up to his lips. Zexion gazed down at him through a fearful eye as the blond pressed his lips against the boy's knuckles.

Demyx smiled, and pulled Zexion into him, pressing his lips against his. "I can hear Axel's motor," he explained. "Call or text when you get there, alright?" Zexion nodded. Demyx pressed a kiss onto the boy's cheek, and left.

"Demyx, wait," he called, as Demyx stood at his doorway. Demyx stopped and turned around, glancing warily at the boy who stood at the opposite end of the room. Zexion took a deep breath. "I...I think I love you too," he said, and quickly looked to the floor, biting his lip.

Demyx only smiled. "I know, Zexy. You're the only book I willingly read," he said, before leaving.

Zexion stared at the door for a good ten minutes after it closed. He stared at it another ten minutes after his parents came through it, both waving hands in front of their adoptive son's face but to no avail. After twenty minutes of staring at the door with a look of horror, Zexion finally snapped out of it and went to his room, grabbed his suitcase, and loaded it into the trunk.


	10. Missing

"Libi? Where's Zexion?" Serene called from the guest bedroom their adoptive son had gone to sleep in a mere five hours ago.

"He's not in there?" Libi asked, coming up behind her wife. "Huh...that's strange..."

Serene chewed her lip, and ran down the hall. "Mom! Have you seen Zexion?"

"Yes, we met him last night, don't you remember?"

"No, I mean he's not in his room!"

"He's a teenaged boy, Serene. Calm down, for god's sake. He probably went for a walk," Serene's father, Jimmy, said from behind his newspaper.

"He left his cellphone," Libi said, frowning as she held up the silver device. "Zexion doesn't go for walks anyways. Zexion stares at the wall or reads books."

"Well, that's not very healthy behaviour for a young boy!"

"Oh my god, _mom, will you please shut up?_ I am not a lost cause just because I adopted a child!"

"I'm just saying that maybe if he had a father, he'd be more-"

"He didn't have a father to begin with, mom."

"Surely he-"

"No, mom. Zexion was from an abusive single mother home. There never was a father figure."

"You can't know that-"

"Will you two shut the hell up? Arguing about this isn't going to find him!"

The mother and daughter both turned and stared at the fuming brunette who proceeded to scowl at them and storm out of the house.

"I'd better..."

"Go, go. Find your son and your... wife, and then we'll... talk things out over breakfast."

Serene nodded, and ran out the door.

(pagebreak)

"What do you mean you can't find him?" Demyx screeched into the phone. "It's Zexion! How hard can it be to find a blue haired kid in the middle of winter?"

_"I don't know, Demyx. He's just...gone! He didn't even take his shoes."_

"Did you call the police?"

_"Yes, Demyx. We had to wait 48 hours but then we called them."_

"You don't think he's been-"

_"No, we don't." _

"You'll call me if they find him, right?"

_"Yes, Demyx. First word we catch of him, we'll call you-just, it's been over a month now. He might not even be-"_

"No! Don't lose hope! Zexion is out there, and he'll be okay, I know it!"

A sigh. "...You're right, I'm sorry. I've got to get to work." A click.

Demyx sighed and closed the phone, leaning back on the bed. "Ax... he's missing."

"Missing?"

"They can't find him."

"I know what missing means, dipshit. Who's missing?"

"Zexy."

"..."

"Axel?"

"You know, he's no good for you, Demyx."

"Axel, are you-you're drunk again, aren't you? Come on, man. You gotta quit doing this to yourself! Getting wasted isn't going to make Roxas want you."

Axel smiled down at Demyx. "No...but a blond is a blond, right?"

"No! Not right. Not right at all! Get off me you big dumby!" Demyx said with a shove to the redhead's chest. "I hate when you get like this!"

"C'mon, Demy, please? Just this once?"

"No! I'm going to Sora's house."

"Tell Roxas I'll be waiting for him!"

"Screw off, Axel!"

(pagebreak)

"Do you come here often?"

"Uh...no?"

"Oh... uh, well, what's your favorite thing to do in the winter?"

He stared blankly at the woman. "Read."

"What kind of books do you like to read?"

"Any written by someone with some sense of intelligence."

"What's your favorite book?"

He blinked, and crossed the library, picking up a large text from the bottom shelf. "This is my favorite book in this library."

"Oh...are you going to become a vet when you grow up?"

"...no."

The woman smiled awkwardly. "What do you want to do when you grow up?"

"I don't know."

"Well, that's okay. What's your favorite hobby?"

"I like to read."

"I...see. Is there...anything else you like to do?"

"Sleep."

"How...interesting," the woman said, and turned to the camera. "Well, there you have it, folks. Support your children in reading, just like this fella!"

The boy blinked, face seemingly unchanged. "Can I go back to my book now?"

The woman laughed, and the camera was turned off. The laugh faded and the woman nodded. "Sure, whatever, kid. Do what you want."

He sat back down in his chair and went back to reading his book.

(pagebreak)

A/N: I am the worst human being in the history of mankind.

I'll try to update more. I probably won't, but... love me anyways? 8DD


	11. Forsaken

"Hey, kid! Shouldn't you be in school?"

_Shit,_ he thought, staring like a deer in headlights at the officer walking towards him. _Shit, shit, shit. Fight or flight? Ah, flight! _ He decided, and turned on his heel and ran as fast as he could.

"Hey, wait!" The officer called after him, leaping into action. "Get back here!"

He reached a fence and hauled himself over, landing clumsily and springing back into his former sprinting condition. He quickly noticed that he wasn't very fast, as the officer was gaining on him-imagine that, a police officer that was in shape!-so he started knocking things down, creating obstacles.

He looked back and grinned as the officer tripped over himself.

Headlights flashed and a horn honked, but he couldn't move in time, and he felt himself rolling off the windsheild and onto the ground.

"Oh my god! Kid, are you okay? Please don't be dead, oh my god, oh my god,-yes, hello, I just hit a boy with my car, and I think he's-he's not waking up, oh my god-corner of First and Brown-"

He couldn't move. He could vaguely make out the outline of a woman, and then a few more people were peering over at him, but the darkness was swarming and he couldn't grasp the words being said to him.

(pagebreak)

"_**Today, at 11:30 am, an accident at the intersection of First street and Brown Avenue caused a young, unidentified teenager to go into a coma. We are asking that if anyone has seen or knows this boy, to please call the number shown below. **_

_** "He is described as being about 5 foot 7 inches, weighing in at approximately 130 pounds. His hair is blue, as are his eyes. He is caucasian, and estimated to be about 15 years of age."**_

__"Oh my god. Axel! Look! On the tv!"

"Holy shit, that looks like-"

"Do you think-"

"_Where do we go, we go, oh, Lord I don't know, where we go, we go,-"_

"Hello?"

"Demyx, are you watching the news?"

"Yes I am, oh my god, do you think it's really him?"

"It has to be! Serene called the number-they've got her on the phone right now."

"Can I come over?"

"Sure, Demyx."

"Thank you, Libi. I'll be over in like...five minutes!" Demyx said, and scrambled to shove his feet in his shoes and grab his coat.

"Where are you-"

"No time, Ax, bye!"

Axel stared at the door as it slammed shut and sighed.

(pagebreak)

"Are you Serene and Libi Azure?"

The two woman stood and nodded. Demyx opened his mouth, but the officer shot him a glare.

"Please come this way," the woman said, gesturing for them to go down the hall.

"Um..."

"Demyx is our other son," Serene said, pulling the blond by the collar. "He can go too, right?"

The woman hesitated, but agreed, and led them all to the room.

"Zexion!" Demyx squeaked, running over and prodding his long-lost lover. "Wake up, buddy!"

"Please don't, sir," a nurse said, eyebrows up turned in concern.

"Demyx, behave yourself," Serene scolded, only to replace him as soon as he stepped away. "C'mon, kiddo, wake up already!"

"Hey, that's the kid who I interviewed last month!" A woman called, pointing as she ran over to the bed. "Who are you people?"

"We're, uh, his family."

"Well! You really ought to take better care of him! I mean, really-"

"Don't you tell me how to raise my child, you little-"

"Um, ma'am? If you'd please leave, we'd like to give the family some time-"

"Oh...uh, sorry-" the reporter said, frowning as she left.

Demyx occupied the chair next to the bed, examining the nails of one pale hand. "It's definitely him," he said, nodding solemnly. "No other man I know has nails that well taken care of. Not even Marluxia."

"...that's...creepy that you memorized his fingernails, Demyx."

Demyx stared blankly at Libi. "I memorized _every_ part of Zexion."

"I...did not need to know this. Thank you, Demyx, for scarring my mind. Again."

Demyx's mouth curled up into a smile that made him look slightly like the Grinch, eyes narrowed.

"Of course, he's still in a coma, so there's not much we can do-"

"Shut up, Serene."

"Hey, do you mind?" Demyx said to the nurse who hovered at the edge of the bed.

She threw her hands up and left the room.

Demyx took this opportunity to kiss every inch of the bluenette's face.

"If you're wrong, I'm so telling Zexion that you did this," Libi said, smacking the mullhawked boy upside the head. "Now quit trying to deflower my son in front of me. Go on, scat!"

Demyx pouted.

Libi sighed, and shoved Demyx out of the chair.

Demyx gasped, flailed with his right hand (the left was firmly gripping Zexion's hand), and jumped a bit. "Don't look at me like that-he totally just squeezed my hand!"

"He so didn't, Demyx. His face hasn't so much as twitched. Hate to break it to ya, but your spit is _not_ magical, kid."

Demyx pouted, and shrunk to his knees by the bed, still holding onto the hand he swore was holding back onto his.

(pagebreak)

He could hear voices, but he couldn't seem to make them out. All he knew was that he did _not_ like the dark place he'd been before the light started to overtake him, and he did _not_ want to go back. Keeping that in mind, he clung to any sign of the outside world.

The voices were familiar, but he couldn't put a face to them-he couldn't really picture anything at the moment, to be honest. This frustrated him to no end, but what could he do? It wasn't like he could just decide to wake up.

(pagebreak)

"Demyx, buddy, why don't you go home and get some sleep?"

"I...want to stay here, if that's alright with you."

"You've been here for three days, Demyx."

"I'll stay here the rest of my life if I have to," he replied, smiling up at Zexion's mother.

"That's sweet, Demyx, but you can't stay here forever."

"But what if he wakes up?"

"I'll call you."

"But what if he wants me, and I'm not there?"

"Demyx..."

"I don't want to lose him again."

"God...you act like your his mother-fine. But you are going home tomorrow night, got it?"

"Only if he does, too."

Serene sighed. "Goodnight, Demyx. I'll see you in the morning."

"Yeah, see ya," Demyx said, and rested his head on the blunette's chest. "C'mon, buddy, wake up already! I miss you."

(pagebreak)

There was something warm on his stomach.

Warm and...heavy. It was actually making it kind of... hard to breathe. He wanted to squirm and knock it off, but he couldn't seem to make his body move.

Then there was a loud scraping noise and a squeal as the warmth and the weight went away, and he swore he heard a familiar voice shout "YOU'LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE!" but he couldn't quite place it.

(pagebreak)

Demyx looked around, breathing heavily. There wasn't anyone there-just him and Zexion. It was just a dream. He wasn't a pirate fighting robot ninja sharks that were going to take away all the bunnies.

No, he was just Demyx, the boy who hadn't showered in four days and hadn't eaten in three.

"Zexion, I swear, you'll be the death of me-literally."

A small part of him believed that the bluenette could hear him.

"I really wish you'd wake up already," Demyx said, frowning as he ran his fingers over the bluenette's face.

Demyx wasn't sure if he was hullucinating or not, but he swore he'd seen the boy's mouth curve upwards slightly at the touch. Curious, Demyx laid his hand there.

Poke.

Poke.

Nothing.

Frustrated, Demyx climbed over the smaller boy and grabbed ahold of his cheeks, pinching them and moving them around.

Zexion's eye's flicked open and he screamed, evoking a scream from Demyx, who hadn't enough sense in him to release the boy's face.

Nurses ran into the room and pryed the terrified blond off of the blunette, who'd since stopped screaming, and even attmepted at one point to sit up. A nurse helped him, and also assisted him in drinking a glass of water.

"Wh—where am I?"

"Do you know who you are, honey?"

"Zexion, you're awake!"

The boy on the bed blinked. "Clearly, my name is Zexion. Now-get away from me!" He said, slapping the nurses hands away from his personal bubble.

"Zexion! I was so worried!"

"You smell like a wet dog," he responded driely.

"Oh, I knew you'd wake up! I missed you so much," Demyx said, snuggling into the bluenette's chest.

Zexion wasn't entirely sure why, but his body responded by enveloping the blond into a tight hug.

"You were gone for a whole month, and then we found you, and you wouldn't wake up, and I was so scared that you wouldn't ever and I told them you'd wake up soon," the blond rambled, and broke away from Zexion to smile at him. "I'm so glad you're awake."

"You... why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did you...care?"

"'Cause I love you, silly!"

Zexion blinked, and stared at him, and blinked again. "I'm asleep."

"No, no. You're awake right now," Demyx said, and pinched the boy's arm. "See? You wouldn't have felt that if you were still asleep, silly."

"You can feel pain in dreams."

Demyx frowned. "Then wake up, Zexion."

Zexion gasped and sat up. "Wha-where-Demyx?" He asked, looking around. The hospital room was empty. "Demyx?"

"Oh, you're awake. Hello, my name is Sam, I'm one of the nurses here at-"

"Where's Demyx?"

"Who?"

"Demyx. About 6'1, dirty blond hair, greenish blue eyes, scrawny, hyper-where is he?"

"Honey, do you know what happened?"

"I don't care what happened, just get me my boyfriend, you worthless piece of-"

"Can you tell me your name, sweetheart?"

"Zexion Azure," he said, frowning.

"I see-do you know what happened?"

"Can I-can I call my mom?"

"Do you know the number? Just press 9."

Zexion nodded and turned to the phone next to him, punching the number he knew by heart into the phone.

_"Hello?"_

"Mom!"

_"Who is this?"_

"Libi?"

_"Yes, this is Libi. Who is this?"_

"It's me, Zexion, I-"

_"Zexion?"_

"Yeah, it's me! I'm in the hospital, and-"

_"I don't know a Zexion."_

"Wha-what? How could you not-"

"_I don't know who you are, kid, but this isn't funny. Where did you get this number?"_

"You-you're my mom! Why are you saying these things?" Zexion asked, sobbing into the phone.

_"I don't have any children."_

"Mom!"

_"I'm not your mother," she said. "I'm going to hang up now."_

"No!" _Click._ Zexion felt the phone slip from his hand. "She...doesn't remember me..."

"Honey, are you alright?"

"She...doesn't remember me," he said, feeling tears pour out of his eyes. He couldn't remember ever crying like this before. "My mom...doesn't know who I am..."

"Honey?"

"SHE DOESN'T KNOW WHO I AM!" He screamed at the nurse. "I AM NOT OKAY. JUST GO AWAY!"

The nurse grabbed him by the shoulders and tried to lay him down. "Honey, you're okay. Calm down, honey. You're safe."

At one point more nurses rushed in, and the world got dark all of the sudden.


	12. Foreshadow

"Brother."

"Fuujin!"

"Sad?"

Zexion scrambled over to the one person who'd remembered him from the life he used to know, and grabbed her hand. "Thank god, you're still sane-tell me, where's Demyx?"

"School."

"Is he-does he remember me?"

"Unsure."

"Could you-could you ask him?"

"Affirmative."

"I-I remember Axel's phone number; if I'm correct, Demyx will be using his phone as well-you have a phone with you, correct?"

Fuu nodded, and pulled the silver device from her pocket and handed it to him.

Zexion thanked her and set to work. _**Demyx? Or Axel. This is Zexion. Please, if you remember **__**me, come visit me in room 613 of the hospital at 4pm.**_

Zexion handed the phone back to her, smiling slightly.

"Hopeful," she said, smiling back at him.

"Thank you, Fuujin."

"Response!" She said, pulling out her phone, and handing it to him.

_**Demyx said he'd b there. Idk who u r, but if u hurt him, I will hurt you x20 as bad. Got it memorized?**_

Zexion smirked at the phone after sending a "'kay." back in response.

(pagebreak)

Zexion glanced at the clock. _Four o'clock... probably got lost._ He thought, eyes flicking towards the door. Almost as soon as he'd thought it, in slipped the dirty blond.

"Demyx," he said, smiling slightly. "When did you get glasses?"

"Oh, uh...they're not real, see?" Demyx said, poking fingers through both sides of the frames. "Uh-wait. So...you..."

"You remember me, don't you?"

Demyx stared at the blunette, stroking his chin. "No...no, I can't say that I do..."

Zexion cursed.

"Aw-don't cry, buddy!"

Zexion stared at him, tears leaking down his face. "Why shouldn't I?"

"Well...just because I don't remember someone doesn't mean much...I'm uh, kinda stupid..."

"I'm fully aware of that."

Demyx stared at him, and shook his head, smiling softly. "You're alive, aren't you? You shouldn't cry if you're lucky enough to be alive."

"So are you saying I should never again cry in my life?"

"Well...no, but-don't spend all your time crying! Smile!"

"But...the only one who remembers me anymore is Fuujin..."

Demyx frowned. "Maybe...maybe we just haven't met yet."

Zexion blinked. "What are you talking about, Demyx? Obviously we've met before-"

"Zexion, how old are you?"

"Seventeen."

"No...I think you must have hit your head really hard to think that-you're maybe 10. Trust me, I'm-"

"Good at guessing ages, I know."

"I'm only twelve, you know. So...maybe you're like, psychic or something! Wouldn't that be awesome?"

Zexion smiled. "I love you, Demyx."

Demyx stopped for a second, and locked eyes with the blunette, face frozen mid-laugh. "What?"

"I love you. I really do," he said, glancing down at his hands.

"Wha- you're silly, kid. I like you. I hope that someday, we can meet again. I can tell we'll be best friends."

"You-you won't visit me?"

Demyx's smile faded, and he shook his head. "I...have to go home—-"

"Demyx... I don't know what this will do to the future, but-please, turn him in."

"I...I don't know..."

"If you don't, he'll attack your sister. He'll beat you unconsious when you're fourteen, and break 3 ribs and your leg when you're sixteen. Do it now, before it escalates to that level."

"I-you really are psychic, aren't you?"

"No, Demyx...I just know."

"Well...if it turns out alright, maybe I'll come visit you-if, you, uh...if you're still around."

Zexion smiled. "If my understanding of the world is correct, in about a month or so...I'm going to be adopted by a young couple who live a block down around the corner from you-half way between the school and the lake where you'll be getting a life guard job at when you turn sixteen."

"I'll keep my eyes open, Zexion."

"Zexy. For you, it's Zexy."

Demyx grinned. "Got it, Zexy."

Zexion smiled. "I'll...see you then, right?"

Demyx nodded. "Pinkie promise?"

Zexion latched his pinkie with the other boy's and pulled him in close, touching their lips together briefly. "And sealed with a kiss."

Demyx pulled away, rubbing his neck. "Well, I'll uh...just be going then..." he said, quickly scrambling out of the room, fingers over his mouth.

Zexion sighed as he sat down on the makeshift bed, looking around the patched up attic room. Any minute now...

"These are going to be your new parents, honey. They've decided to adopt you," said the social worker he'd come to know by the name of Anne.

"I know," he said, grinning as he walked over to them. "My name is Zexion. Zexion Ienzo Azure."

Serene blinked, and looked at Libi.

Libi stared at the small boy. "You-"

"Hello, mom," he said, smirking. "I thought you'd forgotten me, but it turns out...I was just a few years ahead."


	13. Psychic

"I would like to go to public school."

"A—are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Well...alright."

Zexion went back to reading his book, but found himself distracted. "May I go play outside, please?"

"Uh...sure," Libi said, blinking. "Are you...feeling alright?"

"I feel...fine. I'll be...back soon. There's something I need to do, first."

Libi nodded slowly as Zexion spun on his heel and ran out the front door.

Zexion ran down the sidewalk and turned the corner, coming to the house he'd never actually witnessed before but somehow knew to be Demyx's, and stopped. Glass shattered inside, and he krept over to the window. Demyx was strewn over his sister, his father holding a broken vase in the air. Zexion whipped out his cell phone-the one he'd taken from Libi while she was distracted with trying to get her shoe off the ceiling fan this morning- and dialed 911.

"Hello, my friend's father is about to hit him over the head with a broken glass vase. This isn't the first time," he said, and told the house number.

Smirking slightly, he sat down on the porch and waited.

"Zexion."

Zexion turned around. "Hello, Demyx."

"You...turned him in."

"Yes, Demyx."

"He...he's in jail."

"Yes, Demyx."

"I-why?"

"I told you before, Demyx. I love you."

"But we-"

"You'll come to love me too, Demyx."

Demyx frowned. Zexion had seemed to be in a bit of disarray as of late-perhaps it had to do with some sort of hatred of aging, but ever since his 17th birthday, Zexion had been kind of...strange.

"Demyx! Hello, hello, come on it! Zexion will be out in a minute-I'm not really sure what he's doing."

"Uh, can I just go in there?"

"Oh...sure, sure. Go ahead."

Demyx grinned and let himself into the boy's room. "Zexy?"

Zexion jumped. "Ah, Demyx, turn around-_now._"

"Uh...okay...?"

Zexion slammed the bathroom door shut and Demyx heard some clattering.

"Okay. Get out of my room."

"Why? I'm just gonna see you in a few minutes anyways."

"Yes, but-"

"C'mon, Zexy, it can't be that bad!" Demyx said, shaking his head. "Kairi wouldn't pick out a bad costume for you..." He tossed open the bathroom door and gasped.

"Shit-Demyx! I told you to get out of my room!"

"Zexy-ohmygod-you're so adorable!" Demyx said, holding the bluenette to his chest.

"I-Unhand me, you goon!"

Demyx chuckled and held Zexion away from him. "I like you better as a boy, I think," he said, frowning. "The whole drag queen thing just...isn't my thing, I don't think."

Zexion smiled, and pulled the blond down to his level, pressing his lips to the other boy's. "But I can still make you melt," he said, smirking as he pulled away. "No matter what, you will always be mine."

"Hey Zexy?"

"Yes, Demyx?"

"I think... I think I like you. As in, like you like you."

"I know."

Demyx grinned.

"Now come on, let's get going."

"Ohmygod. Zexion. Oh jeezus, LIBI, come see what our son is wearing!"

Libi ran into the dining room and looked at the bluenette. "Uh... well, at least he did a good job."

Serene snickered. "You two have fun, okay?"

"We will," Zexion said, pulling Demyx out the door as he intertwined their fingers.

A/N: And that's a wrap!

I may do little one-shot type chapters for this story later, just little scenes from throughout their life. Nothing serious.


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